FYI - from my local Police / NHW co-ordinator:
Dear All
This is a request for you to go out to your sheds and out to your garages, check the security and any expensive items in there.
Please make a note of serial numbers from bikes, leaf blowers, chainsaws, mowers and any other expensive items.
The reason I ask is that on 27 July Police stopped a man driving in Guildford. His peculiar behaviour lead them to believe he was hiding something.
The officers carried out a search of his vehicle and found a number of tools, one of which was a chainsaw with a serial number on it. The officers asked the radio operator to carry out a check on the serial number and to their delight it matched that of a chainsaw taken from a garage in Cranleigh back in January ! This resulted in "one in custody for burglary".
While out and about or searching people's vehicles and houses we often come across such equipment but without a serial number to link it to a crime we struggle to take back the item on a hunch.
Kind Regards
Waverley SNT
NHW.pdf
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Replies
Really good advice. Thanks. Hadn't even thought about it but am going to do it this afternoon!
is there some where you can check serial no of second hand machines before you buy them i picked up a few bits of ebay but have wondered if they are hot
ROY
Not directly, but go see this thread :
http://www.landscapejuice.com/2010/02/garden-and-landscaping-equipm...
It's only any good if we update it with any LJN member related thefts.....
Brilliant advice! a job for me at the weekend!
Thanks for pointing to this Gary RK and thanks for starting this thread too, very valuable and informative.
I did have a link on LJ and LJN pointing to this form but I took it down because I was a little worried members might have felt it was more of a beacon for machinery thieves.
Do members feel the 'items stolen' list is a good thing to keep in a prominent place?
Gary RK said:
Well my Timberwolf Chipper still hasn't turned up yet and it sure hasn't rusted away either so keep your eyes open!
maybe this list of missing machines should be put up as a members only area so not to advertise the sort of gear we have around but to it save any of us buying each others gear
all my machines have a distinctive mark on them that only i know about and i have copies of all serial numbers and i have an unopened letter with all the serial numbers on that i posted to myself recorded delivery as proof of date. thankfully up to now i have had no thefts but you can never be too careful.
This made me remember a few LJN members posting on another thread complaining about random stops by Police/VOSA/EA being a waste of time and inconvenient.
My comment was I had no problem with this as all our vans/guys are legit and I welcomed a proactive stance.
Well, this topic just PROVES that if police do stop a number of vehicles then they have an above average chance of catching some illegal act (whether it be insurance, tax, goods etc).
Hope they do more of this......
i would deffinatly recomend keeping a list of serial numbers for all machinery. i know with the way we work at etesia, every machine sold has to be registerd to the enduser, this has helped the police a few times over the years get stolen mowers back to ther owners.
and in reply to checking second hand kit, i would recomend contacting the manufacturer direct as that is who the police go to when they have kit reported as stolen.
to do this with etesia mowers you can give me a call or email
also another big pluss with serial numbers is when you call me and have it to hand i know the exact machine you have and also there could be a serial number differnce on a part fitted to you machine and this extra info would make sure you get the right part
roy parker said: