Damage!

[mailee]

As you will all probably know I have been out of the workshop for a while with the gazebo job. Well today was the first time I had returned to it to do some more work and found that someone had tried to break in! Luckily they didn't get in but it appears they had got into the garden from the golf course through a gate. They had torn off the glazing bars from one of the windows and tried to break the 'glass'. It must have surprised them as the rear window is made of double glazed Lexan. They had however managed to crack the outer panel. If it hadn't been for the missing glazing bars I would have assumed it was a golf ball that had done the damage. I have now screwed up the gate so it will not open any more and they won't climb over as it is covered in razor wire. Not too amused at the whole thing though.

[paulchapman]

Sorry to hear that, Mailee Goes to show you can never build in too many security measures.

Cheers

Paul

[seanybaby]

Bad luck mate

Interesting stuff on the Lexan thoughen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexan

Where did you get it from? Is it the same kind of stuff on the pope mobile? Wikipedia said it was bulletproof but didn't mention Lexan.

Cheers
Sean

[Enochknew]

Sounds like you've been very lucky Maillee .I had a couple of items stolen from our garden and shortly after surprised a couple of toerags who made a hasty retreat back over a locked 6'6 gate. Gave their vehicle reg to the police ,who later caught up with them, but let them go as they had only been looking for scrap. Havn't been bothered since I got my Bullmastiffs mind

[mailee]

I got the Lexan from a friend who was a windscreen fitter. It is used in an emergency by them for flat side windows. My sample is only 5mm thick but withstood quite a whack by the look of it. yes it is used as bullet proof glass but in much thicker versions of it. Looks like they used a brick or hammer as it has cracked the outer pane but did not give luckily. I do have a good alarm system but of course this only works once they are in. My garden also has a PIR light but at the other side of the workshop not the back. I thnk by screwing up the gate it should deter them in the future. My neighbour has a Rottwieler so they can't get through his garden to mine and the rear fence is over eight feet with razor wire on top so can't see them climbing.

[dirtydeeds]

what i never understand is that the police

they arnt fools BUT they listen to these stories the thieves tell THEN they believe them



im of an age where the overwhelming majority of people in my age group routinly poll at 90% plus approal rating of the police

well im firmly out of that poll and always will be since the day a pair of them tore the L plates off my moped and i got a conviction for driving without L plates

and dont give me any stories about bad apples theyve ALL been the same since


my latest episode with the police was when the wall of my grage was broken and they thieves took £17K of tools

i had a partial number plate (the first five characters and numbers for deffinate AND the remaining reasonably certain) and car colour from an elederly neighbour.

what was the police response

it would take too much police time



well as you can imagine my feelings for the police were enhanced yet further

[niki]

Sorry to here that Mailee

I have a back door in the garage that is made of very thin corrugated sheet just riveted with a few rivets to the frame.

When my tools arrived to Poland, I was scared that they can just drill the rivets and get into the garage.

What I did is, I welded 2 mm metal sheet from inside, on the door frame, drilled two holes in the door frame and into the wall frame and every night I push two bolts though the frames.

I also drilled and push two bolts on the main garage door. The bolts are just behind the rollers so nobody can open the door from outside.

I have a door between the garage and the house.

Maybe you can make a metal frame window and weld a metal plate to it and close it every night or when you leave for long times.

Regards
niki

[colincott]

Hi Mailee

Sorry to hear about what has happen and glad they did not get anything.

Someone tried next doors small shed last week when I was out ( I could do with a workout )

[pewe]

and they won't climb over as it is covered in razor wire

I had a break in a few years ago and when I mentioned to the police that I was considering putting cut glass on top of the wall they told me not to do it.

They said that even if I had a warning notice on the wall to alert people to the glass, if someone climbed on it and hurt themselves they could sue.

They also said that if someone was attacked and hurt by a dog in your garden, the same applied. (Although a lot of people and businesses have dogs in their yards to deter thieves).

I suggested that this was ridiculous because if they had been warned and were interfering with private property when they were hurt they had no right to complain. They said that that didn't matter in the eyes of the law.

How crazy is that.

Things may have changed since then, but I would check with your local police station just to be safe.

[thatsnotafestool]

No Pewe, things haven't changed despite what that tosspot Straw said.

The best solution is to (a) live very, very remotely (b) back onto remote woodland (c) own a gun and (d) a spade.

[pewe]

The best solution is to (a) live very, very remotely (b) back onto remote woodland (c) own a gun and (d) a spade

I fit all those categories except one - anyone got a cheap gun for sale ;D

[niki]

pewe said:

How crazy is that.

It is crazy law and it's the same also here in Poland and in Israel...a small difference with Israel is that, you can claim that you thought that he was a terrorist (it happened a few times that terrorists enter to houses and killed).

Actually, the "small person" is not protected at all. Even if you make a 5 Meters high fence and somebody will climb and fall, he can sue you for damages.

And if a burglar gets into your house and jumps from the 3 floor and broke a leg...your responsibility.

I don't really know what are the "roots" of this law but putting somebody in prison for 20 years after he killed me, will not really help me so much when I'm 2 meters under the ground covered with a stone (because I cannot take the law in my hands)...

It looks to me like the law is telling you;
"Everybody must obey the law and nobody can take the law in his hands so, if a burglar comes into your home and kill you...the police will protect you and the burglar will be punished...oh, we are so sorry that you are dead and cannot give us any details...."

I know a case in Poland that, there were robberies in one village and the police did not do nothing about it....after a few times, the villagers organized ambush and caught those Huligans "on hot" and bit the hell out of them...yeap, the villagers were arrested and charged but, there was so much "noise" on the telly that actually the local police was afraid to mess-up with those huliganes (and not only in that village) that, they were discharged....but the law is still there...

niki

[dennyk]

IMHO as a 74 year old

I got the cane from the school teachers and when my parents found out they took me to task !!!.

the answer as I see it is-- make parents responsible for their childrens actions.

Where the child cannot be prosecuted because of age, take the parents to court for any crime against society that their children have committed, and pass a sentence that fits the crime and make sure the parents make restitution for any damage caused, wether property, physical or mental

Change the law to make it impossible for anyone to claim damages for any injury sustained whilst committing a felony.

Maybe one day someone will take a parent to court and sue for any misconduct their children commit [

[dunbarhamlin]

DennyK, as a yoof of 43, have been saying the exact same thing for years.

[colincott]

dennyk said:

IMHO as a 74 year old

I got the cane from the school teachers and when my parents found out they took me to task !!!.

the answer as I see it is-- make parents responsible for their childrens actions.

Where the child cannot be prosecuted because of age, take the parents to court for any crime against society that their children have committed, and pass a sentence that fits the crime and make sure the parents make restitution for any damage caused, wether property, physical or mental

Change the law to make it impossible for anyone to claim damages for any injury sustained whilst committing a felony.

Maybe one day someone will take a parent to court and sue for any misconduct their children commit [

Hi Denny

I am almost 40 and if I played up at school and my parent found out, I would have got the belt when I go home ( the cane was band when I was in junior school ).

My mother would say spare the rod and spoil the child, we my kids know not to play up.

[pewe]

make parents responsible for their childrens actions

I agree.

But first step in a lot of cases is to make the parents responsible individuals.

Too many parents seem to have little concern for their children and as a result the children grow up with little concern for others.

On the other hand, the 'human rights' movements have gone too far in the other direction and those same individuals get away with their irresponsible actions and society (us) has to protect them.

It seems that the law abiding and responsible individual is the one who gets a raw deal from both sides.

[engineerone]

"we" the law abiding majority are the easy targets, since we are considered too soft to fight back.

mind you there is still the lawyers routine, if you run someone over, you make sure they are dead, since you spend less time in the nick than if you only injure them

seems to me the idea is to make sure that the burglar has an accident in the course of his career, that could be seen to be "self inflicted"

there is this stupidity about "reasonable force" and was your life in danger??

at the time you would say sure as hell, afterwards in the cold light of day who knows, but 9months later how can you explain it to a jury???

if a guy has a gun, what is a reasonable defence?

bloody stupid that people who commit crimes do not have to be responsible for their wrongs, whilst we the victims are responsible if they get hurt in the course of their "work"

a mate who has a farm keeps a gun, and was plagued by local lads, but finally got fed up, and after a row said to one of the boys, sure your dad come get me tomorrow, but you will be in hospital with pellets in your ar*e?

anyway sorry for your troubles mate

paul

[thatsnotafestool]

engineerone said:

........
seems to me the idea is to make sure that the burglar has an accident in the course of his career, that could be seen to be "self inflicted"

there is this stupidity about "reasonable force" and was your life in danger??

at the time you would say sure as hell, afterwards in the cold light of day who knows, but 9months later how can you explain it to a jury???

if a guy has a gun, what is a reasonable defence?

......
paul

Just make sure that ....
(a) the body is never found (pig pen, lime pit, workshop foundations or remote woodland ...they all work well for me)
(b) the body is never found (see a)
(c) you have a bigger gun

[andy king]

Well, the police are pretty useless at dealing with a lot of the base level stuff in my opinion.
In my village a few years back we had a spate of shed burglaries by a few local teen drug addicts, but the police 'didn't have enough evidence' A friend of mine was the next victim and the 'culprits' used to gather on the bus stop in the village. I confronted the ringleader, in full view of his gang, threatening to not only punch his lights out every time I saw him if it didn't stop, whether it was him or not, I also said I'd break his fingers with a hammer. It stopped from then on in, especially as a woman who ws too terrified to stand and wait for the bus because of them, witnessed it and made it known that someone had the bottle to stand up to them, so their 'menace' was diminished in the village.
Only last night I confronted 5 teenagers (2 boys, 3 girls) who we know have been responsible for a spate of vandalism at our local football ground where I am the chairman. One of the boys had been confronted by our secretary when she saw him climbing up some new netting across our recently installed training lights (which cost us £5000). He gave her a mouthful of very abusive language, and next day, the nets had been slashed. The next couple of days we had windows smashed on the changing rooms, then safety railings uprooted.
I nearly caught them couple of nights back, and shouted after them that I was on their case.
A quick check last night to see if they were there again found nothing, but I chanced my arm to see if they were outside one of their houses. Bingo!
I again threatened the ringleader that if it carried on, he would be held responsible, and would have 60 local footballers on his case as well as me. To watch 5 bold as brass teenagers cowering, and to have one of the boys in tears by my 'diciplining' them in full view of their neighbours was a joy!
They are so say 'out of control' according to some locals, but its because they can get away with it. The main antagonists mother actually opened the door while I was threatening her son, listened for about 30 seconds and then shut the door and went inside. Poor parenting is certainly a prime factor in this situation, she knows exactly what her son is like, but does nothing.
I'll admit that being built like a rugby prop and lookingn like a meathead has its advantages in some cases, (if anyone knows me, they'll understand!) but either way, I won't bow down to little ill diciplined tw*ts who think they can get away with blue murder. OK, I could leave myself open to a prosecution, but my local community know full well that anything that stops these little tw*ts will be appreciated, and i think to some extent, the local community police do as well.
I don't rely on the law when it comes to dealing with crap parenting issues I'm afraid!

Andy

[mailee]

Good on you Andy. It is about time more people stood up for the normal folk. I am afraid I am built like the seven stone weakling and look the part so not a lot of good me doing this but it is about time something was done to these unruly morons who I hate to admit are the future! I blame the do gooders of this world they have turned the country upside down.