Ive been ram-raided

Turned in to work saturday morning to find a nice big hole in a joining wall with a neighbour. Some nice people had broke into a neighbours unit, used their folk-lift (with key in ignition) to break-in to another neighbour and promplty proceeded to remove a section of my wall. Needeless to say we've lost £1000's worth of equipment including my personal computer with years of info on. They even managed to find my very well hidded back-up drive. Whats really bad is that its a very well planned break-in thats been well thought through, they even knew where a secret camera was hidden.

What makes it worse is that the insurance company is trying to wriggle out of anything it can, we pay £4,500 a year just for the business insurance and probably spend double that overall with the same company and they treat me like crap.

I also thought we had very good security and we have had experts in to view our measures, however we've had no choice but to seriously reinforce security and it means the staff are seriously restricted in their movements. More cameras are going up, all internal doors are getting digital combi locks, extra roller doors are going on and the wall in question is now 9" block back-to-back.

Im rather pissed off.

 

Sorry to hear. It's a bit difficult to protect against a fork-lift coming through the wall though. As you say, someone seems to have known what they were doing, and looking for. Any ex-staff with a grudge?

Good luck haggling for a payout from the vampires.

 

As rod says, sorry to hear this and hope thing aren't too much hassle with the insurance.

Any suspects?

Anything taken from the other buildings, or were they just using them to get into yours?

 

If you don't get anywhere it would be a good idea to name and shame the insurance provider. I need to take out business insurance soon and I need to know who to avoid.

 

Sorry to hear about this... It must be devastating.

 

It is indeed, whats making it worse is that the insurance are being a complete pain, as its stacks up we're going to be about £1500 out of pocket. As it turns out the neighbours had left the key for the forklifter in an unlocked draw with a nice tag on with 'forklift' wrote on it! If they hadnt have left the truck outside and the key in the draw it wouldnt have happended. Whilst I dont want to fall out with them Im very tempted to look at taking a civil action against them.

 

For that you'd have to show that they reasonably had a duty of care that was not fulfilled, and I'm not sure how you'd go about that...

It's infuriating that insurance companies are so difficult about things and never really cover what you've lost when you've paid a lot of money for the cover.

 

Sorry to hear about this, and your TOOL neighbours...

Are you sure this wasn't an inside job?

 

Im pretty sure it was an inside job Dom. They knew where a hidden camera was hidden, where the light switches are hidden for our factory floor, where my cpu was kept, where the cash safe was kept and it goes on. I doubt it was a current member of staff, though you never know. Im positive its someone who has had a very good look at our place and our neighbours. Its annoying that we're probably the most secure place aroiund here it was only the access to a very big forklift that meant they could ram the wall. Another factor is that the glove prints the CSI found matched the rubber gloves we give to all our staff.

We've cut off most access now and only limited issues of keys etc. We've also just wrestled a 1.5t safe in and its now blocked in, itd be a major operation to move that thing!

A new alarm is going in next week with a ringer to our phones, only problem is of the three numbers to go on Im by far the closest and it extremely big, dark and quite remote here so it could be quite er, amusing! I mentioned it to the police and she said you have to be extremely careful on what force you use and any weapons is a big no-no as is a dog. Typical!

 

thats really bad - and it makes me mad the way insurance companies try to hold off from paying the full amount when you get scammers who continually rip them off...

luckily I haven't had to make any claims and I just know it would be a hassle if I ever had to

 

Tough break, I hate the parasites that prey on people willing to work for a living. One security measure I had demoed was a set of smoke cans rigged upto the alarm that filled the room with such a dense fog you couldnt see your hand six inch from your nose. Our cleaner kept tripping the alarm so it was a none starter for us.

 

Even thought you may not manage to get hold of the Army Version I reckon that the civilian version might be of some help to you on deep, dark nights.

 

I want one of them! Could replace my 4 battery maglight I keep at the side of the bed for emergencies.

 

Bstards!
What line of business you in T-Bone?

 

Have a look at this and that, I'm sure they can deliver in time for xmas

 

we manufacture and install uPVC windows, doors, conservatories etc, its our 15th year this year and by far the worse luck wise!

 

This is what annoys me the most - why not just put up a sign saying "please steal from me as you know I can't do anything to stop you".

If you're knowingly outside the law, you should have NO protection from it. A nice rottweiler, a shotgun, a shovel and a car boot and one less scum sucker (or more) to gum up the legal system and ruin peoples' lives sounds good to me.

...and save the PC retorts anyone, as I'm sick of the way the victims become the villains these days.

 

Haven't the laws recently been changed on dealing with intruders/burgulars?

 

Yes, and they're clear as mud.

 

The only problem with tackling intruders is that they go tooled up if they think it might happen. I would have thought that there was more than one who did this job on friday night and in all seriousness what would I have done if Id come down and found them here?? Its all well and good saying Id have kicked their 'eds in but Im sure their tools will be just as big as mine and they'd be alot more inclined to use them. Still, the new alarm system has a phone dial system and as Im the closest I think Id better be investing in summat to keep me company when I come down!

A little scrote who breaks in your house is a different matter, then I dont think Id think twise but to tackle 'em.