Stealing gates!
Discussion
(not Gareth 
)
Out for a run with the dog this afternoon and ran past 4 rather shifty looking chaps in a large high top white transit van parked near the railway. They were in the process of getting onto the tracks, but stopped and went back to the van as I approached. They were not railway employees. I eyed them all as I went by, and all avoided my gaze. They were up to no good for sure, but I couldn't work out what as this was the countryside, with nothing to nick, or so I thought.
Just up from where they'd parked was the bridge over the railway, I go over, and hear the van start up and head towards the bridge. By this time, I'm heading for the path on the otherside of the field, but still looking back and watching them. It's then that I spot they've split up and 2 have nicked the gate from the opening at the top of the bridge, and another is testing a gate on my side of the bridge to nick that gate too!
I'd no mobile phone on me, so continued on my run and called into the nearest shop. Called the Police and they took the details of what had happened and where it was. Got home about 15mins later and called the farm who's gates they were to let them know.
They kindly called me back to let me know their gates had indeed been nicked.
Not much else I could've done really. I'm not about to confront 4 30 something scrotes on my own!
Always carry my mobile in future, I'd have been able to find the number of the farm and warn them if I'd had it.
)Out for a run with the dog this afternoon and ran past 4 rather shifty looking chaps in a large high top white transit van parked near the railway. They were in the process of getting onto the tracks, but stopped and went back to the van as I approached. They were not railway employees. I eyed them all as I went by, and all avoided my gaze. They were up to no good for sure, but I couldn't work out what as this was the countryside, with nothing to nick, or so I thought.
Just up from where they'd parked was the bridge over the railway, I go over, and hear the van start up and head towards the bridge. By this time, I'm heading for the path on the otherside of the field, but still looking back and watching them. It's then that I spot they've split up and 2 have nicked the gate from the opening at the top of the bridge, and another is testing a gate on my side of the bridge to nick that gate too!
I'd no mobile phone on me, so continued on my run and called into the nearest shop. Called the Police and they took the details of what had happened and where it was. Got home about 15mins later and called the farm who's gates they were to let them know.
They kindly called me back to let me know their gates had indeed been nicked.
Not much else I could've done really. I'm not about to confront 4 30 something scrotes on my own!
Always carry my mobile in future, I'd have been able to find the number of the farm and warn them if I'd had it.
Twenty years ago when I was Premier Security, I sold a pair of state of the art cameras with infra-red lamps to a client in Gerards Cross. He had huge wrought iron gates at the end of a long private drive, and I advised at time of quote that he should have one on each gate pillar but looking across at each other and the opposing wall. The cleint disagreed and wanted the cameras facing away from each other and looking down the tops of the walls, so I obliged as clearly the customer is always right.
Two weeks later I received a call from the chauffeur on behalf of the owner, asking if I had removed the cameras for service. A day later they came back and took the gates too
Two weeks later I received a call from the chauffeur on behalf of the owner, asking if I had removed the cameras for service. A day later they came back and took the gates too
Stealing gates has long been a country tradition, and it has less to do with scrap value than the ease with which gates can be sold to farmers elsewhere. It has often been coincidental with the arrival of, er, travelling people, in the area, though the two are no doubt entirely unconnected, and there are loads of urban scrotes with nothing better to do.
Most cunning farmers will have the top hinge pointing down. The whole thing has to be dismantled to take the gate, and is a much more time consuming process. Others padlock both end of the gate to achieve a similar objective.
Someone who just hangs a gate, shuts the bolt and walks off thinking that the job's done, is a clunt and should expect his gates to be nicked.
Do security cameras not have some kind of anti tamper device - nicking the CCTV seems too easy. Even if the cameras were pointing at each other, what's to stop someone in a balaclava swiping them?
Most cunning farmers will have the top hinge pointing down. The whole thing has to be dismantled to take the gate, and is a much more time consuming process. Others padlock both end of the gate to achieve a similar objective.
Someone who just hangs a gate, shuts the bolt and walks off thinking that the job's done, is a clunt and should expect his gates to be nicked.
Do security cameras not have some kind of anti tamper device - nicking the CCTV seems too easy. Even if the cameras were pointing at each other, what's to stop someone in a balaclava swiping them?
deevlash said:
I assume theyre metal gates? Scrap prices are high just now, I keep having to chase pikeys who try to steal my trollies from work for exactly this, they even try to walk out with the baskets!
We've got four enormous antique iron gates on our place and they're welded on just to avoid this particular problem. I hate pikies. And chavs. 
deevlash said:
mybrainhurts said:
deevlash said:
Scrap prices are high just now,
Not any more, they're not...
They are still nicking lead, manholes, seats etc for the scrap value.
Our house looks like a building site at the moment (well, it is, but I am actually living there!) and the amount and type of stuff I've had nicked is ridiculous - 15 shovels of ballast - not the remains of the bag, just 15 odd shovels of it, two 6m lengths of 200mm x 50mm eased edge timber, the lead I'd removed from the lean-to when I took it down, offcuts of steel reinforcements, and the latest is half the pile of logs I'd promised to another PH'er!
All this in broad daylight in a very respectable area.
All this in broad daylight in a very respectable area.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff