You’ll be hearing a lot about Brian and why he’s on the bus if you listen to Capital Radio this autumn, as Brighouse-based Avocet Hardware has launched a hard-hitting national radio advertising campaign aimed at drawing attention to the ease with which cars are being stolen from driveways across the country – and highlighting just how easy it is to prevent it.
The company, which is the sole security sponsor of the European Neighbourhood Watch Association (EUNWA), has acted after police figures showed that car theft incidents had risen by eight per cent in the year to March 2016.
Clive Lloyd, Avocet Hardware’s managing director, said: “Car thefts are significantly lower than they were twenty years ago, but the fact they are now on the rise demonstrates that thieves have found a way to circumvent the in-car technology that played such an important role in their decline in the first place.”
“Today, newspaper report after newspaper report tells the same story – vehicles are being stolen from driveways following break-ins where the only things stolen are the car keys. Meaning the advanced nature of the car and its security technology doesn’t matter a jot.
“And when you dig deeper into these stories you’ll find, more often than not, that the break-in was achieved through lock-snapping.”
Avocet has praised the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which joined forces with the Government, police and insurance bodies earlier this year to try and understand the nature of modern day car theft and develop solutions to tackle it. The aim of the SMMT-led campaign being to inform vehicle owners about the hidden dangers and the steps they can take to secure their vehicles.
“We applaud SMMT, and everyone else involved in this campaign, but its guidelines for safeguarding your car fail to mention the risk of cars being stolen as a result of lock-snapping,” continued Clive.
“It’s something that’s happening everywhere and to everyone. Footballer Darren Bent was a victim, while I’m sure if you ask friends, families and neighbours, it’s ever more likely they too will know someone it’s happened to.”
The tale it seems is all too familiar. People who simply aren’t aware of the flaw in their home security that a standard Euro cylinder causes wake up one morning to find their car gone. It happened to Mark Davies and Ruth Harrison – a local couple who Avocet stepped in to help out after their Mirfield home was broken into and Ruth’s £8,000 Mini Cooper driven away.
“Ruth and I knew next to nothing about lock-snapping before the burglary, but did our research straight afterwards and we were staggered to discover the sheer scale of the problem,” said Mark on the day Avocet stepped in to upgrade their standard Euro cylinders to ABS.
“Our intention with the radio campaign is to stop people like Mark and Ruth becoming victims and reverse this trend,” explained Clive. “Yet despite the length of time we’ve been talking about it, lock-snapping still isn’t given the kind of prominence needed to see the public educated sufficiently to know what steps they need to take to prevent it.”
“And as we all know the installation of a proven snap-secure lock on uPVC or double glazed doors will keep burglars out – and in some cases be enough to put them off even trying to break-in.”
Avocet sells one of the UK’s most secure Euro-cylinder locks. ABS was the first lock in the country to have both Sold Secure’s SS312 Diamond accreditation and a BSI TS007 3-star rating. It was fitted in over 10,000 homes by West Yorkshire Police as part of a crime prevention programme that resulted in a 35 per cent drop in burglaries in just one year. It has also never been snapped once fitted in any home in the UK.
“Car theft is by and large an opportunistic crime,” concluded Clive. “By installing a snap-secure Euro cylinder lock like ABS on the relevant doors, and taking reasonable precautions with your keys at home, then everybody is doing their bit to cut these opportunities down to a minimum.”
Listen to the first advert in Avocet’s radio advertising campaign on: https://soundcloud.com/user-3196366/burglar-ad-final?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook
Watch burglars put off by ABS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETapIrVfxy8&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop