Safety and Security

As the days are getting shorter and the nights are closing in many of you will be spending less time on the allotments. Given this, and given the recent spate of thefts on site, it is important you all ensure that your belongings on site are safe and secure. Here are a few useful tips to consider.

• Site security is most important – don’t allow anyone onto the plot if they do not have their own key.  People have come onto the plot when the gate was left open to look around and they can be hard to make leave.  Don’t allow people to tail-gate you into the plot.
• As it is most likely that those illegally entering the plot are doing so from the roadside, it is perhaps more likely that plots closest to the gate are at a greater risk so those plot holders may in particular wish to consider this advice. 
• Improve your general security – put locks on sheds. Keep all tools, but particularly more valuable power tools etc locked away – and also, cover them from view if your shed has windows etc.  You can use bike locks to secure items together to stop them being carried easily – particularly as we enter the winter when we may not be at our plots so often.  
• If you can, with valuable portable tools, take them home and only bring them to the plot when you need to use them (we appreciate that this is not necessarily easy for everyone).
• More generally – tools like spades etc are frequently used as tools to break into sheds and are used in domestic burglaries – and so while they may hold little value in their own right, they may be stolen to be used with other crime.  Again, where possible keep tools in sheds, ideally locked and out of view. 
• Fuel should be kept in secure containers for safety sake anyway – and ideally locked away / kept covered and out of view.
• Please report any missing items to the committee – if we don’t know about it, we can’t report it to the police or respond.