11
PRO INSTALLER NOVEMBER 2016
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
BRIAN’S ON THE BUS
THIS MORNING…
Avocet launches radio campaign aimed at tackling driveway car theft
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 incar 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 breakins 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.
Darren Bent
“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 seems is all too familiar.
People, who simply aren’t aware
of the flaw in their home security that a standard Euro cy linder
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 PVCu 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/user3196366/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
www.avocet-hardware.co.uk