British Summer Time (BST) officially starts this Sunday, March 27th at 1.00 am GMT when the clocks ‘spring’ forward to 2.00 am BST. We lose one hours sleep but we get more daylight in return. An exchange I’ll happily accept.
The longer days, coupled with the fantastic weather we’ve had recently, mean that many of us will be out and about in our gardens in greater numbers. Unfortunately, so too will the thieves - at least according to claims-data recently released by insurance group Aviva.
Aviva’s claims-statistics for the past 10-years show that after British Summer Time begins, thefts from gardens, garden sheds and garages increase rapidly by 25%. Apparently garden theft slowly increases from the beginning of March and peaks in July/August at which point it is almost 50% higher compared to January.
Typical targets are the usual items we all sometimes leave unsecured in our gardens: garden tools, bicycles, lawnmowers, even our kid’s toys. The average haul nets a thief a whopping £900 in value.
Top 10 items stolen from garden sheds and garages*
- Electric drills – mainly Black and Decker models
- Electric jigsaw – mainly Bosch models
- Electric planer – mainly Bosch models
- Extension leads
- Electric lawnmowers – mainly Flymo models
- Electric strimmers - mainly Flymo models
- Petrol chainsaws
- Pressure washers
- Petrol hedgetrimmers
- Garden fork and rakes
Thieves showing a preference for daylight might sound a little illogical but the extra light also means that your expensive goodies are on full-show for everyone to see – including any ‘window-shopping’ criminals that happen to be passing by.
It’s always a good idea to have curtains or blinds on the windows of your garden buildings; keep these drawn when you’re not around. Basically, any weakness in your garden security will also be much more visible in daylight, particularly unlocked sheds and summerhouses.
So what can you do to beat the garden thieves? Here’s some advice from Aviva who clearly have a vested interest in helping you avoid making a claim!
- Make sure you lock your garden tools and other valuable items away every day. If you have bulky items that can’t be locked, such as gas barbecues and picnic benches, cover them as best you can.
- Have good locks on your sheds and use them.
- If you have high value items in your garden buildings such as a television, games console or fridge, check your policy details to ensure you don’t go over your policy limits.