All over the UK tradie’s tools and vans are being stolen by thieves who have no regard for anyone else apart from themselves. Nowhere in the UK is safe from Tool Theft, as 1 in 3 tradies have had their tools stolen. Yorkshire has reported in the past year over three-quarters of a million pounds worth of tools were stolen. Tool thieves are robbing with no fear directly from construction sites where many trades people are working hard to provide for their families. They are having their tools stolen which they can not work without, being assaulted which potentially puts them out for work even longer, but what can the police do to help?
Many feel the police are not equipped to pursue these thieves, due to the laws not being strict enough, and in some cases the police do not deem the tool theft worth pursuing because the minimal value of the theft is not worth an investigation. The Police even captured a culprit with £9,000 worth of tools and let him off, read more about this in an article by The Sun here. What can you do to prevent your property from being stolen?
Here are a few tips we recommend to keep your tools and van safe…
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Insurance
In the unfortunate event that your appliances are stolen, to prevent you from having to fork out potentially thousands for new ones, which could take you weeks to get back and lose potential jobs in the meantime it would be advised to get insurance. Not only get insurance for your van but your tools as well. Check over the policy you have for the valuables that are kept in the vehicle to make sure you are fully covered.
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Marking your property
If your tools are taken, the marks will help identify them when they are sold on that they could be stolen. You can use a permanent marker to add your names, initials or something you can identify yourself to those tools, it would have to be something that isn’t easy to remove.
Better still, you can join a register such as Immobilise or SelectDNA, which can help police identify your tools.