[JoeF2k2]

Last night i was in bed about 11pm due to being up at 5.30am, my missus came to bed at 2:30am as she has her theory test today and was doing hazard perception etc.

About 2:33am she heard loud loud kicks on our front door, someone was trying to get in, she panicked and i think was in shock as she could not get her words out, i shot up and was the same, turned the lights and and opened the windows to look out the front, no one there. Obviosuly scared them off. I went down to check and the whole door frame was basically £$"$"^& !!!

Rang the police, they came round to check and said 10 mins after i rang, they picked up some youths up the road, 1 who is missing from a young offenders and its more likely to be them but was not sure.

After this neither of us went back to sleep lol and are trying to figure out why us and what were they after? my car as its parked right by the side of the house as there is no parking, so surely you would be brainy enough to figure out someone lives here or were they having a laugh or wanting to rob us.

Didnt have a clue what to do and dont really wanna live here now, its one of those things where u freeze and wonder whats gonna happen.

any tips from people or experiences?

[Stoatman]

Corinthian Doors, High Security Entrance Doors for Residential, Apartment and Office to ENV1627 !

I guess it was a one off though , bit of a shock ! . Its unlikely to happen again isn't it. ?

[KhalJimbo]

Start Karate lessons and sleep with a golf club under your bed

[JoeF2k2]

probably unlikely to happen again yes, guess its just shock. dont fancy karate but ill be going to buy a baseball bat today for my bedside :P

[KhalJimbo]

Originally Posted by JoeF2k2

probably unlikely to happen again yes, guess its just shock. dont fancy karate but ill be going to buy a baseball bat today for my bedside :P

Judo?

[xit2050]

Originally Posted by JoeF2k2

any tips from people or experiences?

My parents were burgled a few weeks back while away a few hours.
Broad daylight. All jewelry gone. Everything turned upside down.
Police lifted fingerprints off a window. Very small fingerprints... Point of entry.
Front door left wide open... point of entry for the adults and point of exit.

According to the police common modus operandi for roma gypsies.

My mother has trouble sleeping ever since.

[loz]

My mother-in-law was burgled and as a consequence she sold up and moved. Like you she just didn't want to live there any more.

My uncle and his wife were asleep in bed and were woken at 2.30am with a huge crash.

He looked out the bedroom window to see a couple of guys exiting his lounge window below with his big TV an hifi.

They had broken the windows (presumably quitely enough not to wake him) and then tied a rope around the frame to the back of their car and simply pulled the entire bay window frame out.

[Iccz]

Originally Posted by loz

My mother-in-law was burgled and as a consequence she sold up and moved. Like you she just didn't want to live there any more.

My uncle and his wife were asleep in bed and were woken at 2.30am with a huge crash.

He looked out the bedroom window to see a couple of guys exiting his lounge window below with his big TV an hifi.

They had broken the windows (presumably quitely enough not to wake him) and then tied a rope around the frame to the back of their car and simply pulled the entire bay window frame out.

That's not a spur of the moment passing by noticing an opportunity thing, that sounds well planned.

I notice in my village a lot of people now it's summer leave their curtains or blinds open when they have the lights on, you can see straight into their living room, what size TV they have where etc, all it takes is burglars to scout the area at night to see what houses have nice stuff inside and how easy it would be to quickly get in and out with it...

Also a lot of houses leave small downstairs windows open overnight, it's quite shocking really how people must either forget or just assume its safe cause its small.

[Singh400]

Blimey. The same thing happened to the house across the road from us a couple of months back. Exact same thing. Late at night around 2AM, some one/people tried to kick their door in. Luckily they couldn't and they were scared off when the heard momvement inside the house.

I was actually up at the time, I heard a what sounded like a car door slam, and thought nothing of it, told the copper the same thing when he came round the morning after.

We were robbed in our old house. We had a drive access to our garden at the back through another street. Turns out they drove a van, and parked it outside our gate (thank god we put that in). Scaled the metal gate, and smashed the kicthen window (only window in the house that wasn't double glazed). They stole the house phone, microwave and TV.

He was caught a few weeks later (but not before stealing his bosses car and looting the safe), as he left a shoe print and cut himself on some glass and left plenty of blood. Turns out it was someone from my moms work, he had been in the house eariler, he was paint and decorting

The house never really felt safe after that. I supose it was contribuing factor when we sold it 3-4 years later.

[Xan]

To the OP, do you have any security lights and an alarm, if not my first investment would be both. Lights that illuminate whenever anyone approaches down your path are a deterrent, a nice big alarm box on the front of your house is also good.

If in doubt speak to your local neighbour policing team, they will make an appointment for a crime reduction officer to visit you.

Hope you both are feeling better soon.

[y2k]

Originally Posted by JoeF2k2

ill be going to buy a baseball bat today for my bedside :P

Thats probably not the best thing to have around the house, you wont have enough room to swing it and even if you do the intruders will probably take it off you after 1 swing and beat you with it, best bet is to get some security doors and make sure the windows are secure.

[rickinyorkshire]

Oh man that's tough. Luckily i have never been burgled or any attempts either, not sure how I would react either, but I do keep a baseball bat under my bed.

[daniel_owen_uk]

Get a dog?

Electrify the door?

[Stoatman]

For me one of those suggestions would be a little OTT !.



I'm more of a cat person .

[JoeF2k2]

Regards to security lights/alarms, there is an alarm and box on front of house but we dont use the alarm as we have cats in the house and surely they would set it off or we would if we woke up?

The house is rented, so ive spoke to the agent and the landlord is coming round today at some stage.

What gets me is, its on a main road, and we are the lone standing house "old converted post office" then further up is more house and other direction. They made such a racket kicking it in, surely they had no idea what they were wanting to do? not exactly being discreet.

By the side of my house where the car is, its access to another flat and parking then off into fields/residential areas. ppl can see my tv and stuff if they walk down, but even at night there is a security light which last night didnt go off so they must not of gone this way.

The house is below and as u can see, we stand alone and where that BMW is i park my car and the rear basically overhangs so you can see it it walking up and th furthest window bottom right is our living room with ourbedroom above front door which was surprisingly quite tough although when i look at it i think i could of kicked it in being only 1 key lock

Northwood Lettings List - More Details

[JUS]

My friends had their front door kicked in while they were asleep. the thieves took a handbag and sets of keys that were in the hall. Luckly my friend got down stairs before they had a chance to make away with their car.

Why you? I'd say opportunist. "Let's kick down the door and nick what ever we can before they make it downstairs" would be my guess.

I'd re-enforce the door frame and door. Make sure it's near on impossible to kick in.

[JoeF2k2]

with it being rented, im well within my rights surely to request it be as secure as possible and as u said near impossible to kick in again?

[unique]

Originally Posted by JoeF2k2

Regards to security lights/alarms, there is an alarm and box on front of house but we dont use the alarm as we have cats in the house and surely they would set it off or we would if we woke up?

The house is rented, so ive spoke to the agent and the landlord is coming round today at some stage.

What gets me is, its on a main road, and we are the lone standing house "old converted post office" then further up is more house and other direction. They made such a racket kicking it in, surely they had no idea what they were wanting to do? not exactly being discreet.

By the side of my house where the car is, its access to another flat and parking then off into fields/residential areas. ppl can see my tv and stuff if they walk down, but even at night there is a security light which last night didnt go off so they must not of gone this way.

The house is below and as u can see, we stand alone and where that BMW is i park my car and the rear basically overhangs so you can see it it walking up and th furthest window bottom right is our living room with ourbedroom above front door which was surprisingly quite tough although when i look at it i think i could of kicked it in being only 1 key lock

Northwood Lettings List - More Details

about alarms, i got a professionally fitted alarm when i bought my flat, after spending £60 or so in B&Q on something i couldn't figure out how to put together. as well as the door sensors, the infrared movement detectors were fitted. the particular ones i got, which are reasonably common, are set in a way so they need to sense both movement and heat at the same time, and i think they said it was set to a particular temperature of something like 72 degrees which is the normal human body temperature. this meant that if someone fell off the way, the alarm wouldn't go off. i think they also said that it means that if a small animal like mouse or fly or spider went past, it wouldn't set it off. you could look into this as they may be able to work with cats as you might be able to change the settings or something, so it needs a bigger/hotter moving item. you can also "zone" the alarms, so you can turn off the infra reds and just keep the door and window alarms on, for evening use, so if you go for a pee at night you don't set the alarm off

i don't know much about the things myself so some of the terminology may be wrong, but you could get one or two companies along for a free quote and advice as i'm sure there are probably all sorts of technological things you can get these days. i just got a fairly basic setup, but professionally fitted so it reduced my insurance a bit, i've had no trouble with it, and i have peice of mind. being top floor flat makes it harder than most to break into, but i think it was about £350 well spent. i just called a couple of well known names from the yellow pages as i didn't want a builder bloke i didn't know to fit something from B&Q and case the place out. i felt that a long established firm would have staff more used to fitting alarms in homes that had better things to steal than mine

also, i'm not sure if they still do it, but didn't the police used to have some crime prevention thing a while back where you could get someone to have a look at your place regarding security advice for better locks and stuff. i think the fire brigade do a similar safety thing to. my door is solid with 3 locks, plus a chain/bolt inside, and the other doors in the building look less solid so i think i'm pretty well covered myself. there are about 3 different CCTV outside so if they took my plasma i'm sure i'd get some footage for crimewatch, but then my insurance would pay for a nice new one instead

[Showoff]

Definitely sounds like opportunists, probably daring each other all the way down the street, until they'd convinced each other to give it a go and yours was (unfortunately for you) the next door. If it's any comfort to you and if they are regulars at this sort of thing, the fact that they tried and failed to get into your house before you woke, means they are more likely to move onto an easier target next time.
B******s

[hornydragon]

You can get "pet safe" PIR sensors or just have the alarm set for perimeter when your in GF's parents always set there alarm in the eveing to cover the groundfloor only. Most alarms have these features but they may not be in use the alarm should have an annual service and when that is doen the the engineer should be able to show you how to set arm different areas etc.

[Kieron]

Do you have an inner door or does the front door lead right into your front room.

A bolted secondary inner door would give you some peace of mind. It would take twice as long for them to get in, twice as much noise and give you some preperation time to get a good swing of the golf club.

We're decorating at the moment and a new bolted inner door is on the shopping list.

I doubt they'll be back though.

All the best.

[Miyazaki]

Originally Posted by Earthworm Jim

Start Karate lessons and sleep with a golf club under your bed

Do you learn how to play golf in karate? I thought it was a martial art?

[ROBIN50N]

Originally Posted by y2k

Thats probably not the best thing to have around the house, you wont have enough room to swing it and even if you do the intruders will probably take it off you after 1 swing and beat you with it, best bet is to get some security doors and make sure the windows are secure.

a rounders bat, perfect size

[Reign-Mack]

woke up around 5am and saw a robber in my flat once, just played it cool rolled over and went back to sleep. He stole the batteries out of the remote controls never saw him again.

[stevefish69]

Originally Posted by JoeF2k2

Regards to security lights/alarms, there is an alarm and box on front of house but we dont use the alarm as we have cats in the house and surely they would set it off or we would if we woke up?

Our alarm company did not recommend or install Cat friendly sensors. Since our insurance company insists that we have the house alarmed at night and locked up we have no choice but to leave the cats locked in the kitchen at night.

The rest of the ground floor is protected by PIR and the kitchen has every point of entry secured by perimeter sensors on windows and doors.

TBH it sounds more like drunken yobs, but IMHO it's better to protect your property as well as you can prior to any event. Why is it that most people i know only had an alarm fitted after a break in

[Suave]

Hi,

Even though you may not have any, why not put a small sign on/near your door or gate "Beware of the Rottweillers/Dobermans/German Shepherds"? You could even print a small photo of two such lovely beasts and make a sign with that - next time some thugs decide to do the same thing, they will avoid your place if they had any sense - usually these thugs would not live locally and be from another area.


Suave!

[pixelpixel]

My neighbour got his door kicked in a few days ago.......but thats was by the police

[neilios]

When i split up with my girlfriend yrs ago ,i rented a big new flat ,on the 2nd night i heard the window go through whilst in bed ,i got up and put my trainers on ,which unfortunatly for me i'd been soaking in the basin ,with sodden feet i went to investigate ,caught a lad just getting back out through one of the sash windows ,gave chase , but couldn't catch them .

All i can remember is running towards halifax town center with sqelching trainers and a pair of shorts on .

Recently we heard a big crash downstairs ,sprung out of bed and shouted get the **** out of my house ,sprang down the stairs to see 2 cats looking at the dining table chairs laid out on the floor .
It is scary and i've got to admit i moved out of the flat a couple of days later.

[leeince]

I wouldnt be surprised if it was the youths, they were proberly tired of walking and see your car in the drive and thought they would break in a steal your keys, it happens alot these days, I know a few lilttle ***** that are alway drinving around in new flashey motors that they have got in this way, the youths of today have no fear and just dont give a ****. I wouldnt worry about them coming back, that will not happen, they run off at the first sign of life and will not risk it.

[benmbe]

Hi JoeF2k2,

I have just read about your frightful experience, I pictured what you read in my mind and thought ''I would have reacted the same''

I am deeply hope that you & your good lady are well, and that you are able to get over this in time.

What's the area like where you live?

Have you managed to get the front door frame repaired yet?

Keep us updated friend and shall look forward to hearing from you at your convenience.

I have had some really bad experiences in the past....but now is not the time to share this with you, as your needs are greater right now!

First of all there is the fright, Hesitation, action, going down stairs to investigate, seeing the damage....then after some time the thought that your home ''and not to mention! your privacy'' has been violated.

You must be quite angry as well right now.

Deep Compassionate regards

P.S. Some of the advice offered from the above Members is good advise and am very sure that they would be willing to help in some way.