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Pikey Barstewards!


HaydnH

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Hi Guys,

 

Since about November we've had at least 6 break ins to our underground car park, there may be more that I'm not aware of. I know someone in the next block of flats had a specialized bike stolen as I had the police knocking on my door for information. Personally I've lost about £500-£750 worth of tools etc and they keep taking the boxes with OEM car parts in, realising their not really worth anything and dumping them behind bushes so that the groundsman has an ongoing easter egg hunt. It's not the end of the world to me, they haven't touched the Z, tools and parts can be replaced and there's nothing personal down there.

 

I live on a nice estate in Surrey which has a management agent run by an estate agents, personally I own the property but I'm sure there are people renting in the same building. Do they as managing agents have any responsibility to their tennants with regards to security/safety? I'm not sure the old dear in the flat above me would be to thrilled to find some robbing barstewards in the car park when she gets home.

 

Any other advice would be welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Haydn.

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I would have thought the management agents can do something, where I used to live they used to put in a lot of parking measures so I assume they would have to sort out security issues to (along with the actual owners of the building).

 

Will, can you pm about reasonably priced home set ups, I've been looking recently and totally confused myself lol

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I specialise in CCTV, if I can be of any help to you. :thumbs:

 

I'm afraid its the world we live in, full of thieves.. :scare:

 

Hi Will,

 

Would you mind PMing me a very very roughly how much it would cost to buy/install:

 

a) One or two cameras facing the entrance with a recording facility?

 

B) Full coverage for the underground car park? It's basically an H shape, an electric gate on each end of the horizontal line and 3 cars in each of the 4 legs of the H. The bit between the 3 cars on each half of each side (the white space in an H) is either the stairs up the the flats or a locked room for the concierge which has electricity and would be suitable for the recording equipment, both are probably the size of about 1.5 parked cars, so I guess for total size a 7 by 2 car park with a road in the middle is about right. I'm guessing 4-8 cameras plus the recording equipment?

 

c) Same as b but for 7 blocks of flats? i.e: Would a cctv company likely offer a discount for something of that scale?

 

To be honest, everything would have to go through the management company so I doubt you'd actually get the job unless you had the cheapest quote, but it would be very useful to have some rough idea of figures for when they say it's "too much". They fobbed off a neighbour with that and I bet they haven't even got a quote yet, I'd settle for them putting up some fake cameras and signage to at least look like they're doing something!

 

Thanks!

 

Haydn.

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They're right, though. Tbh even if you had CCTV, unless it's 1080p and gives perfectly clear close ups of the their uncovered faces, you're never going to get any prosecution from that. All they need to do is wear a hoody and the CCTV becomes useless. With all respect to Will's company, of course!

 

Ultimately the best thing to do is to stop them getting in there in the first place. How is the main entry way accessed? Are there any other doors? Can you secure your garages (or whatever you keep your bits in) better?

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They're right, though. Tbh even if you had CCTV, unless it's 1080p and gives perfectly clear close ups of the their uncovered faces, you're never going to get any prosecution from that. All they need to do is wear a hoody and the CCTV becomes useless. With all respect to Will's company, of course!

 

Ultimately the best thing to do is to stop them getting in there in the first place. How is the main entry way accessed? Are there any other doors? Can you secure your garages (or whatever you keep your bits in) better?

 

The door to the building automatically closes and needs a security key which can't be cut without written permission (although I'm sure there are ways around that). The underground garage has wrought iron bars over the windows and a matching gate which is run off remote controls provided by the management company, I have no idea how secure these are, maybe the frequency can be recorded/cloned? However, it's fairly secure as things go, at least as secure as somewhere that's been roken in to 6 times in 4 months can be!

 

I've asked the management company for any supporting documnetation regarding the CCTV assessment, I've also asked them what other options have been assesed. For example, permanent signage educating the residents to ensure the gate closes behind them before driving off could be a cheap method of preventing one possible method of entry.

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Temporary CCTV aimed at the entry points could work then, at least it would let you know how they're getting in and where to concentrate spending the money.

 

Ultimately though if people do just drive off without checking to see if the gate is shut, then there's nothing you can do about that. Just a shame you have to suffer as the result of someone else's stupidity. :(

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They're right, though. Tbh even if you had CCTV, unless it's 1080p and gives perfectly clear close ups of the their uncovered faces, you're never going to get any prosecution from that. All they need to do is wear a hoody and the CCTV becomes useless. With all respect to Will's company, of course!

 

Ultimately the best thing to do is to stop them getting in there in the first place. How is the main entry way accessed? Are there any other doors? Can you secure your garages (or whatever you keep your bits in) better?

 

The door to the building automatically closes and needs a security key which can't be cut without written permission (although I'm sure there are ways around that). The underground garage has wrought iron bars over the windows and a matching gate which is run off remote controls provided by the management company, I have no idea how secure these are, maybe the frequency can be recorded/cloned? However, it's fairly secure as things go, at least as secure as somewhere that's been roken in to 6 times in 4 months can be!

 

I've asked the management company for any supporting documnetation regarding the CCTV assessment, I've also asked them what other options have been assesed. For example, permanent signage educating the residents to ensure the gate closes behind them before driving off could be a cheap method of preventing one possible method of entry.

The written permission about keys being cut is correct, I know a number of lock companies who do this (I design, supply and fit cash carrying safes) PM me the name on the manufacturer on the key and I'll let you know if it's one that I'm aware of. If it's controlled by the mamangement company then that's a different issue.
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Well so far I'm less than impressed with the management company! I've just sent my third email asking what options have been considered, their first response was "CCTV doesn't prevent theft", their second was "we've sent a letter asking people to watch the gate close", hopefully on the third try they'll actually answer the question and provide a list of what's been considered before they have decided to do nothing!

 

I also asked if I could install something like this bolted to the floor at my expense, I can't see why they'd say no:

 

oxbox-SOX2Z-b.jpg

 

 

I guess if anything is going to get done I'm going to have to organise a meeting with all the leaseholders to discuss the situation. :(

 

Haydn.

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