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My Entire Work Tools Stolen


mixmasterlooney
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As some may know after my post in the what's your job topic, i made a post stating i'm a kitchen fitter,i need to change that to WAS a kitchen fitter.

Yesterday at work thieves broke into my mate van (2 of us use one van to save on fuel) ALL of my power tools were in the back of that van and some point during the day, the van lock was broken and everything i needed to do my job got stolen over £800 worth of power tools gone!

I am officially out of work! and very deflated! had tools stolen before but never my entire kit the theft happened in a very busy train station car park Walthamstow North London

The last 24 hours has been very depressing, I don't have any insurance on my tools and even if i did it would take so long to reclaim my tools i would still be out of work.

Trying to earn an honest day living and getting f'ed in the !Removed! by some idiot looking for a quick buck truly puts the cream on my goddamn cake!

I wanted to share my rage with the forum however with all honestly i've been too angry to communicate with people in a humanly fashion since yesterday

1st of august is a day for me to remember, a life time marker!

On the up side Clive fellow friends were very helpful and showed a real interest, they even came on site to talk to me and investigate. The car park and train station has cameras with a dead end station road, now i await the police with any news from the cameras.

Walthamstow is a complete waste land ghetto, A man was robbed at knife point on the same station road sunday and a 12 year old girl was raped not too far from Walthamstow Station, not too far, a police helicopter landed in the same car park my tools were stolen for the raped victim.

WTF is the world coming to now a days

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/walthamstow-rape-teenager-arrested-after-2114765

/rant over... for now

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Sorry to here this, can you not lend a bit gear, buy some cheap gear enough to get on, look on gumtree etc you might come across your own gear stranger things have happened. I hope it works out for you though.

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sorry to hear this Kurt. my dad had his garage broken into and it was a horrible sickening feeling and put me and my dad right off for ages. luckily his customers and locals helped out with tools and he got started again. i hope they catch the gits and you recover your tools.

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really sorry to hear this kurt, karma is a bad !Removed! and hope it comes there way soon, really hope the police can follow this up somehow and catch the fellers.

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thats the worst thing ever the only way we can stop the thieving scumbags is by never buying anything off a friend of a friend or off some random guy turning up on site, used to get them quite often. check eBay for your tools being listed the cops should check local cash generators etc id hope

On a lighter note i hope they cut theyre hands off with one of the tools the useless stains of humanity !!

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gutted for you mate, been there on more than one occasion myself, still trying to get back where i was before the last one few months ago.

stick with it mate, call in favours or ask for favours, borrow or hire, whatever it takes to keep you going,...dont let the lowlifes win, they'll get their come uppance sooner or later.

its harsh out there right now and vans are an easy target, you need eyes out the back of your head and be ultra vigilant [mate had power tool stolen out of van whilst stuck in traffic, by time he realised what was going on it was too late)

ride it out best you can, going to be tough but stick it out..you wont regret it

hope the OB followthis through to the full...but from experience (too much unfortunately) unless its an easy nick they just end up putting it on file

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Sorry to hear it Kurt, good to see that the officers are still digging into it for you, surely though your van insurance should cover some of the cost?

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from personal experience, van insurance is a joke when it comes to tools...you either pay through the nose to the point you could buy new kit every two years with premiums, or find out all the get out clauses when you make a claim,

far better off insuring individual items, still costs a bit though and hard to find a policy that pays out a decent value for theft of unattended equipment

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Thanks for the kind words guys, i have looked into insurance and no my insurance does not cover it nor does my public liability insurance covers tools. Insurance that specifically covers tools is so much that unless everything is stolen as in this case it's not worth it.

I have looked online been looking since it happened nothing has popped up that is familiar, trying very hard to pick myself up but i won't lie this has truly discouraged me and i feel paranoid about vans!

I believe the next step for me is to get a steal site box and have it welded to the van floor, will be costly and adds excessive weight but it is an option that seems to work based on speaking to people who've had experience with this.

Credit card shall be my next option too a very unwanted one at that. Once again guys thanks for the kind words and advice, taking everything into account for future reference because this has been damaging to my life.

I'm still shocked at it all crazy stuff

Oh yeah and i have never and will never buy power tools at markets or gumtree i will not support the trend for theft, will purchase all new tools. Will be researching power tool tagging/prints of some sort

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sorry to hear this m8ty,

i once had my van broken into in brighton luckily they only got away with my m8s broken power tools as all the others were on site.

contact your local cash convertors etc,visit local boot fairs look in your local friday ad for any tools that seem like yours.

if you were very local to me i could perhaps lend you a few bits.

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all sorts of ways to beat the scrotes, but making something visually more secure is often enough to put off your average **** and move them on to something more vulnerable.

ive gone to quite long lengths to make it harder, can be a pain to get in myself let alone a !Removed!, but can save a fortune.

do a search on van security suppliers sites, dont have to spend a fortune either.

as an eg....my last van had sliding doors both sides, plus a big steel cage bulkhead...i welded a chain to inside of sliding doors, which i then fed through the bulkhead and padlocked it..impossible to slide door open unless padlock hidden behind front seats were removed..i also removed all the tailgate handles and key barrels, welded a chain inside and padlocked to floor, can only be opened from inside..

all that only cost the price of decent chain and padlocks.

then spent a few bob on decent locks and armour plates for front doors...enough to put off the passing toe rag chancer.

inside the van, fitted a inexpensive box that bolted to floor, then welded a chain to lid and padlocked that to floor too..also fitted a simple but hidden seperate immobiliser, didnt rely on built in and alarm system

in five years, never got touched despite a couplke of occasions of streets getting targeted that i was parked in...best 300 notes i ever spent...you dont have to break the bank, but you do have to be vigilant in not thinking, sod it, im only gone for 5 mins...use the security EVERY time.

currently securing up the new one Tony stylee...but for obvious reasons, not listing what i do this time <_<

if your self employed...ride it out, you wont regret it even if it takes a year to get back on your feet

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Really sorry to hear this Kurt, I have been there once myself too but not to the extent or value of your gear.

I had my entire tool box contents stolen from my work, they left the box though! They were tools supplied by my work but that was over a year ago and they still haven't replaced much of it.

Anyway, we are now forced to use site boxes due to the very high number of thefts. One of these as mentioned already would be a great addition for your van IMHO even if it does add 50kg.

The type we are using claim to stop you getting a pry bar in and the locks are very heavy duty and welded inside the box with a heavy steal plate around them on the outside. They are absolutely solid and would definitely take a bit of a beating and slow someone down considerably.

I hope you get the scum bag(s) that nicked your tools but more importantly i hope you get your tools back so you can continue to work as soon as possible

Did you have a list of serial numbers or any identification marks on your tools?

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Really sorry to hear this Kurt, I have been there once myself too but not to the extent or value of your gear.

I had my entire tool box contents stolen from my work, they left the box though! They were tools supplied by my work but that was over a year ago and they still haven't replaced much of it.

Anyway, we are now forced to use site boxes due to the very high number of thefts. One of these as mentioned already would be a great addition for your van IMHO even if it does add 50kg.

The type we are using claim to stop you getting a pry bar in and the locks are very heavy duty and welded inside the box with a heavy steal plate around them on the outside. They are absolutely solid and would definitely take a bit of a beating and slow someone down considerably.

I hope you get the scum bag(s) that nicked your tools but more importantly i hope you get your tools back so you can continue to work as soon as possible

Did you have a list of serial numbers or any identification marks on your tools?

A site box seems like the way forward indeed, had a look at one this morning atm i wasn't able to test how well it opens inside the van.

Unfortunately the only register i have with serials numbers is the PAT test certificate, and that... is so beaten up it's unreadable. I must say truly caught me out, next time i will be far more prepared. Seems i was naive putting my trust in just the van door locks...

Greg thank you for the offer mate it's much appreciated but i have been given some help from a family member and hopefully i will be able to replace all my tools by the end of next week. Some of my tools were direct order from manufacture as they aren't stocked in stores.

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Totally feel for you, thieving swine are a bane on the lives of hard working Tradesmen.

I'm glad you got a good response from your local Officers, hopefully the CCTV comes up with workable intelligence.

I definitely recommend that any new tools you get are deep engraved with a name or postcode for recognition or you at least note any and all serial numbers.

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