Nocturnal Scrote Rampage- Anarchy in the lentil belt

We had another rough night last night. I was awoken at 3am by the Mrs asking if I’d heard a noise. Of course I hadn’t because I was flat out with my earbuds in. Seconds later she’s opening the window and shouting to someone that she’s phoning the police and a less polite version of “please vacate my residential driveway”.

I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and there were 3 big lads, fully kitted up like ninjas, masks, hoods, gloves, Nike Air Max’s, metal bars in hand, slowly walking away from around our car which was blocking the garage door.

You may remember that I posted around 18 months ago that our garage door was ripped open and I lost a Geometron and a Transition. The garage door has been broken and screwed shut since then which is why it didn’t pop open again. As they were casually walking up the street one of them shouted back “It was us last time as well. I took your push bikes.”

That’s not all though. As they were walking away they were checking car doors. One car door opened, so he reached inside and released the handbrake then just walked away. Just as they disappeared out of my sight, a white hatchback came speeding down the hill backwards and eventually came to rest in the engine bay of someone else’s Octavia. So there’s 2 cars written off out of spite because they were upset at being chased off.

So yeah. We’ve now got this to think about every night at bedtime. I’m at a hectic new job with my brain firing on 1 cylinder and Mrs has been on Rightmove all day. I’d move house right now but obviously it’s not a quick fix and would take months. On inspection, because our door doesn’t slide up anymore they’ve got their hands under it and peeled it open so now it’s folded over at the bottom and unsecured. I’ve screwed some sheets of ply wood to it.

Also, two weekends ago, our new next door neighbour had their similarly crap garage door popped open and an e-bike taken. CCTV from over the road showed 3 lads actually spent most of their time trying to get into our garage but it was totally blocked by my van. They then went next door and tried that one.

So they’re not strangers or random opportunists. They know where we live and what we’ve got. They’ve had one easy score and they’re going to keep trying for another one. And now we’ve upset them and they have a point to prove.

I feel literally, physically sick thinking about it. I can’t imagine what they’ll do next.

We live in a nice(ish) place. It’s a bit scruffy but it’s mostly quiet and peaceful (just like me). But, these scrotes got lucky once and now we’re on their hit list. Unless we win the lottery this weekend we’re stuck where we are for the foreseeable.

Absolutely bummed out today.

The cops gave me this pamphlet when the riots were on so that we could protect our shop.
It’s amazing what I now have “easily to hand”

Scum of the highest order.

See if they’d been caught and incarcerated (or ideally, hanged) 18 months ago all this would have been avoided. Perhaps the two written off cars might force the police to do something this time.
The sterotypical hand wringing lefties I’m sure will say they just need a youth club and/or it’s Thatchers fault somehow.

I’m sorry for your shit situation.

Reported to the Police? They’ve gone armed and you would hope the police would be pretty proactive in removing them from the streets.

-Everything secured in the garage?
-Security lights?
-Security system ?

I’ve even put this in the wrong forum. I did say my brain was fried!

I also do have some objects to hand but unless they’re in the house I’m not going to run outside looking for a fight. I’ll just end up stabbed.

It’s amazing what I now have “easily to hand”

Just don’t go full Tony Martin on them.

That’s horrible mate, got done over at my old place so I know how you feel now.

Definitely don’t run out and start swinging at three big lads with crowbars, film them while you call the police.

Any scope to keep bikes in house? Or build extension for them with the money you’d spend on a move?

Problem is 1 against 3 is not good odds even if you happen to grab a baseball bat you had lying in the hall from playing baseball earlier that day or my personal fav a 4d Maglite, (obviously I grabbed my torch on the way out the house your honour as it was dark).

Feel for you and honestly I think in the mid term a move is sensible. Not feeling safe in your own home is not a nice way to live.

Sounds horrible hope the police get the ****.

Any scope to keep bikes in house? Or build extension for them with the money you’d spend on a move?

garage conversion extension, keep the bikes somewhere else inside the house.

I think @tracey managed to thwart returning theives with a second, internal cage in the rear half of the garage.

I’d move. I’d also be storing the bikes elsewhere and/or upping security. Nothing will stop them if they’re brazen enough to admit to doing your house over last time and would quite happily take a handbrake off, sending an out of control car anywhere…

Any ring doorbell footage?

Folk like that need a good shoeing.

Really shit that is. CCTV and PIR lights, alarms in the garage. Do what you can to make life difficult for them but don’t do so much that they want to get into your house. Bikes are just bikes, they sell them in shops or on the internet, so don’t worry too much about someone nicking them. If you don;t need to use the up and over door in the garage put stuff in front of them on the inside. That end of my garage is full of racking with camping gear on, you literally cannot open the up and over door.

Feel for you OP.

Police might give you a crime number for the damage to your property but that’s it.

Was in the news yesterday that in half of constabularies not one single solitary burglary was solved.  They have basically stopped bothering with burglary as they don’t have the people.

Having had my garage done a few years back, the key is to have a good alarm, good security and really good insurance.  You’re really hoping they move down the street to someone without an alarm or shit security and rob them instead.

Lights and CCTV are pointless, your helping them see what their doing and they know the police won’t use the CCTV footage.

By the way, my comment above about moving wasn’t made lightly. We had similiar’ish about 8 years ago. House next to us was a private rental which ended up taking a council “problem” family. That kick started nearly 8 months of absolute hell ranging from being able to hear the husband and wife kicking seven shades out of each other, their feral teenage kids sat on the wall looking straight into our house, being threatened in the street when we asked them to watch their language when our 3 year old was playing in the street etc.

We tried everything we could with police and council to get them out and eventually it worked and they were evicted but by that point we were months into selling our place and buying another and going through with it was the best thing we ever did.

Alternatively, the cage mentioned above would be an expensive but worthwhile addition although for them to get as far as seeing the bikes locked inside a cage they’re still going to have to have got into your garage and theres nothing to say that next time they won’t try and fire up one of those cars with an unlocked door and ram raid the garage.

Horrific for you OP. As someone who has suffered with where they live, you have my sympathy…

To answer some of your questions…

The Police were bang on to be fair. Last time they showed up 8 hours later but last night we had 3 cars in around 5 minutes. Obviously there was no sign of the scrotes, they’ve probably just gone into their mates house around the corner.

Everything in the garage is secured. Ground anchors, massive chains, D-locks. Even if they had unrestricted access it would be a nightmare trying to take anything without the keys. Nothing else valuable in there.

Lots of CCTV in the street but you basically get a video of a gang of masked individuals doing you over which is both terrifying to watch and utterly useless in identifying anyone. You can’t even read the plate on the car that they used to do numerous sighting laps.

I’m definitely considering moving. It’s horrible timing with the prices of everything but I’m not living with this hanging over us for years on end.

I know this kind of thing happens all over the country but I feel like they know who we are now and we’ve pissed them off. We have absolutely no defence against them terrorizing us whenever they feel like it.

The only good news is that young’un slept through the whole thing and isn’t traumatised.

Sorry man. Sucks.

Sorry to hear this.

They’ll be back, not tonight, or tomorrow, but in a few weeks/months when you’ve dropped your guard a bit more.

Not much you can do aside from increase your level of visible security to try and put them off having another go- as you say, they know what you’ve got.

Can you get a roller shutter garage door , so that its obvious you have improved things security wise? On the inside, many different chains and ground anchors so it takes a while to cut through them all (or a cage) and hopefully they make a noise. An alarm on the garage would be good too, they’re obviously not bothered about waiting until you are not home before having a go, so if you can get it set up so you are woken up when they have a try , at least you can send the mrs after them.

We were burgled a few weeks ago when we were away on holiday, they broke in and found the keys to the cars, and took them both along with some unopened birthday cards containing a bit of cash for my sons 12th birthday. We have cctv so I have some nice footage of them prowling around ,then breaking in. They tried breaking in last summer , but didnt get in, I thought that given the fact they didnt get in last time wouldve put them off, but they came back 9 months later and finished the job. I assume they will be back again……Police not interested in the cctv footage, and seemingly powerless to catch them or prevent it happening again. All my neighbours have also been broken into over the last few weeks – presumably the same scrotes.

We now have those driveway security posts to try and act as a more visible deterrent, door locks replaced with antisnap locks, security film on the inside of the garage windows, garage alarm fitted, 2 ground anchors ,plus 3 different chains holding the bikes. Car keys & spares will now always be with us when we’re not at home. None of this will stop them if they decide they want what we have, but it might slow them down.

They’ll be back, not tonight, or tomorrow, but in a few weeks/months when you’ve dropped your guard a bit more.

I know this. I think we’ll be on Rightmove all evening after work!

Can you get a roller shutter garage door , so that its obvious you have improved things security wise?

Yes. First job. Already on the case.

On the inside, many different chains and ground anchors so it takes a while to cut through them all (or a cage) and hopefully they make a noise.

Already done. Honestly, if I lost the keys to all the Kryptonite gear I have, I’d just have to surrender my bike to the sands of time, or go through a stack of cutting discs. There’s also an alarm sensor in there which made them scarper last time as they were fully inside where there’s a door to the house.

I think they got lucky last time. There was no way anyone knew the bikes were inside but I had a desirable car on the drive and I think they came looking for the keys. I left the garage door unblocked and the bikes unlocked because we’d been in and out of hospital all week with a sick baby and I was too knackered to think about it.

I know this. I think we’ll be on Rightmove all evening after work!

I talked about moving after our recent burglary – but as the mrs quite rightly points out to me- you dont know whether you’re just moving to a house with a different burglary problem. If we get targeted again in the next year or so, we’re moving….. This was our 2nd actual burglary ( 3 attempted) in 16 years of living here

It’s true what you say, it does happen everywhere and I’m definitely not a paranoid person. But, now we know we’re being targeted on multiple occasions by the same people. There’s no telling what they’re willing to do and no way of stopping them. It’s just a fun night out for them isn’t it?

zippykona
Full Member

The cops gave me this pamphlet when the riots were on so that we could protect our shop.
It’s amazing what I now have “easily to hand”

15 inch rubber cock?

Just don’t go full Tony Martin on them.

You can still shoot them if they are coming towards you, just not shoot them in the back as they are leaving.

Really sorry OP. The Police really need to be trying to stretch their limited resources to keep an eye out as it’s obviously an organised gang targeting the area, but I’m not sure what else you can do in the meantime.

There is another way of thinking about it.
I’ve had a car and various other things nicked, similar deal with local scrotes.
My view now is that it’s stuff, and it’s mostly stuff that’s insured. If they want it that much they can have it. As long as they don’t come inside the house they can have what they want from the garage and driveway.
I make reasonable provisions to stop it, secure garage door, locks, car keys in a secure box, etc. but that’s as much to appease the insurers as it is to deter the scrotes.
Don’t let the scum bags get you down.

Big angry dog in the garage?

Could you put your bikes into a local storage unit?

Really sorry to read this, that’s not a pleasant way to live.

ut, now we know we’re being targeted on multiple occasions by the same people.

That in particular is the bit that’d get me – the fact it’s not random and, as their brazen behaviour shows, they don’t give a **** about you knowing it’s them. As you say, you know they’ll be back.

I’ve no suggestions other than MORE time on Rightmove

sympathies. we were burgled 6 years ago. it took me years to get over it. I still sleep really badly. what helped was fitting cctv so I can check it when I wake rather than go downstairs and investigate every time.

it seems it is really getting out of hand. desperation and lack of punishment driving it

if things keep going in this direction we may see the rise of gangs you pay a protection fee to, to keep your property safe….

I’d be moving everything into a local storage unit and leaving the door to my empty garage wide open. Feels like the least worse short term solution.

Get a garage door that locks the **** in.

if things keep going in this direction we may see the rise of gangs you pay a protection fee to, to keep your property safe….

Buccaneering private enterprise – just the sort of thing the Tories love.

if things keep going in this direction we may see the rise of gangs you pay a protection fee to, to keep your property safe….

It’s already here (has been for years),in my area at least, which is partly why I suspect so many houses round our way keep getting done over, because they won’t pay the local ‘security firm’ their fee.

So they’re not strangers or random opportunists. They know where we live and what we’ve got. They’ve had one easy score and they’re going to keep trying for another one. And now we’ve upset them and they have a point to prove.

But, now we know we’re being targeted on multiple occasions by the same people. There’s no telling what they’re willing to do and no way of stopping them. It’s just a fun night out for them isn’t it?

Actually, if you think logically about this your wife scared them off just by opening a window and shouting.  If they were truly menacing they’d have kicked your front door in to shut her up in person.  The car handbrake was an interesting tactic – either it was to stop you chasing them or perhaps so that it if the police turned up they were delayed dealing with that and not chasing them.  In any case its clear that a lot of noise and the threat of the police and they are off.  They may well come back – they will know you have new stuff by now, but if they’ve been twice in recent weeks and got nothing from you they might move on to an easier target.

We got done a few years ago. They came masked up, kicked the garage door in and got to work trying to break my bike locks. One of them took his mask off inside the garage and my internal hidden CCTV camera got a great shot together with audio of them talking.
He eventually went down for around 10 years for multiple burglaries including mine.
I went to the court to watch, sat behind his skank mum smiling the whole time.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/predatory-teen-who-violently-robbed-15501094

I went to the court to watch, sat behind his skank mum smiling the whole time.

I hope we get a moment like that.

It would be quite productive to rig your garage to “catch” them and lock them in for the Police to collect.

In the interim I’d go for some huge lumen sensor lighting and an alarm inside the garage so loud as to drive them out.

Then move so you can get a decent night’s sleep again.

Leave the garage door open and plug your bikes into the mains.

Or borrow a dog.
Neds (Scottish term) are terrified of dogs.

I fitted one of these in the garage, linked to the PIR in there. Pisses me right off when I set it off accidentally.

Don’t set a mantrap.

However

https://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/how-to/security/alarm-mines