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Tea Leafs - What Have You Had Nicked?


Thomas C King

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Yesterday morning we discovered our gangplank was missing. Just a bit of painted wood. Thoroughly checked the water (which is shallow so it'd be pretty obvious if it had fallen in, and also unlikely given that the boat is a bit stuck). Thinking it was nicked, but it's really bizarre given that it looks like quite a posh area. It's pretty annoying because we can only just jump off and onto the boat.

 

How common are thefts of items of low worth? Wondering if we need to secure the replacement, which seems ridiculous...

 

Any interesting stories?

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40 minutes ago, Thomas C King said:

How common are thefts of items of low worth? Wondering if we need to secure the replacement, which seems ridiculous...

It is seemingly becoming more and more common, we have had diesel pinched and the boat moored next to us had his plank and mop stolen, and I know someone who had their batteries stolen

 

The concerning thing is that in many cases, the items are only useful to boaters and are stolen from boats 'moored in the middle of nowhere'.

 

If it is boaters, is it going to become even more prevalent as more and more 'boaters on a budget' try to move onto the waterways ?

 

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Had three breakins since 2007 - none before then. In all three cases electronic items of value were stolen. The last case included a mobile phone which was set up so that only a further illegal action would make it usable again. The second was just south of Birmingham centre, Edgbaston/Selly Oak area. We had moored on a formal visitor mooring, locked up on a stretch of busy towpath with lots of walkers, joggers, runners and cyclists and went to the nearby supermarket. Came back to find that locked door had been forced open and several electronic items including laptop (not secured) had been taken. Police said that it would likely have been sold on in a dubious student market by the end of the day. 

 

We then fitted a strong bar and padlock across the front door but the third breakin was at night (two young grand daughters were asleep as well) by forcing the sliding top to the rear door. We are normally woken by significant rolling of the boat, such as when an early leaver passes by, so the thief must have known how to avoid that. He/she also then, on exiting inserted a piece of wood into the external hasp of the door to delay anyone chasing after them. Local boatyard reckoned it was likely to have been a boater and certainly one had left early . . . but as we had not thought to take its name and number the night before we were of no help to the police.

 

We reported all three, mainly to get a crime number as they were all worth claiming on insurance, unlike a missing plank, but also to make sure that the crime statistics for each area were updated. In each case the police who attended, always remarkably quickly, were impeccable in their response and in taking details, although all of us knew that there would be no effective investigation. BUT, there is always the chance that a later crime results in previous cases being solved as well. The reporting process did help to reduce (a little) the sense of violation and helplessness that nearly everyone, including us, reports after any sort of breakin.

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Over the years had the oil pressure gauge taken off the roof at Braunston, a lump hammer and part tin of red oxide also Braunston. At hinckley boat club broken into cassette player and booze taken, lots of other boats at same time. In Belgium aluminum gangway and folding bike. Bikes are real targets in Belgium and France.

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Just to try to give this thread a balanced set of results, so that we don't get a skewed view from a host of reports giving the impression of a major crime wave, here's my list...

 

Nothing.  :)

 

Anyone else?  Or is it just me?

 

(There, that's fate tempted in no uncertain fashion - why do folk insist on setting up these opportunities to invoke sods law?) :help:

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Just a thought about the wood in the hatch hasp. If you replace the padlock in the staple without engaging the hasp, then no one can lock you in your boat.

A couple of years ago, i had a couple of chairs taken at Kings Norton. They would have been no use to anyone as they had odd legs to accommodate the step in the back deck.

Edited by Ex Brummie
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13 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Just to try to give this thread a balanced set of results, so that we don't get a skewed view from a host of reports giving the impression of a major crime wave, here's my list...

 

Nothing.  :)

 

Anyone else?  Or is it just me?

 

(There, that's fate tempted in no uncertain fashion - why do folk insist on setting up these opportunities to invoke sods law?) :help:

Nothing for us too

 

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16 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Just to try to give this thread a balanced set of results, so that we don't get a skewed view from a host of reports giving the impression of a major crime wave, here's my list...

 

Nothing.  :)

 

Anyone else?  Or is it just me?

 

(There, that's fate tempted in no uncertain fashion - why do folk insist on setting up these opportunities to invoke sods law?) :help:

We are on the nothing list as well.

 

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24 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

Over the years had the oil pressure gauge taken off the roof at Braunston, a lump hammer and part tin of red oxide also Braunston. At hinckley boat club broken into cassette player and booze taken, lots of other boats at same time. In Belgium aluminum gangway and folding bike. Bikes are real targets in Belgium and France.

Also at Braunston (above the flight) a boat hook. To add insult to injury I was mooring up at the time. Put it down to adjust lines, looked around and there it was gone.

No, it didn't go into the water.

Edited by Slim
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Just remembered we did have a piling hook returned when I left it on the tow path whilst mooring up, got the hook out without realising there was a ring so put the hook down then walked off and left it.  When I went in to the cratch later someone had kindly put the hook in under the cover.

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1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Just to try to give this thread a balanced set of results, so that we don't get a skewed view from a host of reports giving the impression of a major crime wave, here's my list...

 

Nothing.  :)

 

Anyone else?  Or is it just me?

 

(There, that's fate tempted in no uncertain fashion - why do folk insist on setting up these opportunities to invoke sods law?) :help:

Nothing either, in over 20 years of boating on 4 different boats in various parts of the network.

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It's not always a tealeaf. Last year on the Bridgewater I passed a hire boat which skirted under some low branches as we approached each other - there was no need to, there was plenty of room between us. As they dodged the branches none of the crew noticed a pole on the roof get swept off into the water. I managed to steer towards it and then reach out with a short shaft to retrieve it from the water. I shouted to the crew and eventually they realised what had happened. We both pulled into the towpath and one of their children ran back to collect it from me, admitting that they had completely missed it going, and thanked me for saving them from losing some of their deposit.

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A caravan step 'disappeared' in the centre of Brum.It wasn't windy but we had a good furtle around in the water just in case...We reckon another short boater took a shine to it.* Had to buy another step for the times we moor below the lock at Tewkesbury,my little,short legs need a helping hand(if you get my meaning).

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15 minutes ago, Ray T said:

 

Not theft but on the same journey some kind soul made a long mooring rope into two shorter ones.

mine2006_0416(008).JPG

 

Some years ago, crewing for a friend, we came upon mutual friend Pete's boat moored to some rings on the towpath. Feeling mischievous, we first got a couple of shortish lengths of old rope from our rope locker, untied Pete's mooring ropes and dropped them in his gas locker, then eye spliced our ropes around the stem of his T stud, base of his stern dolly and around the mooring rings!

When we all met up some time later and the truth came out, Pete said his first thought was "Some bugger has nicked my ropes", but it wasn't until he came to set off the next day that he realised that he would have to cut his way free.

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Very few incidents over forty thousand miles and almost fifty years:

(1) While out shopping, hireboat left with some washing drying, which made the locking of doors difficult, but still tricky to find a way-in past a weak doorbolt. Lost a bottle of alcohol and a piece of electronics - in those days tape-cassette-players seemed hi-tech. Towpath-telegraph had us "Finched", for those who remember such problems. Police attended and took details.

 

(2) Two/three kids at locks: jumped aboard uninvited with undue exhuberance, but not feeling threatened by them, offered  sweets. They took two message-pagers as they walked to granny's sweet-bowl. Pagers also seemed hi-tech at the time. Police were attending evening-mooring boat-ahead, so added to their crime-statistics.

 

(3) As background, people, often with kids, who show interest in how locks work are usually offered a ride. In a miscommunication twixt crew and steerer, steerer believed this is what had happened when in fact the said gongoozlers had asked for a ride. Only steerer aboard at the locks, and it would have been easy to confine them to the front deck for their ride by locking the front doors from the inside. Lost a Kindle (in its pre-internet form) from just-inside the front doors. Asked by police to attend police station to complete the report the next morning, and had transferred to a memory stick a good photo of one-of-the-gongoozlers (with associated LARGE handbag). Policeperson in policesation was not allowed to put a memorystick in their computer for fear of viruses (or whatever) and contented themselves with a phone-pic of my camera-screen. Tempting though it is to append said picture ...

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so far, nothing, touch wood

 

although, one of the other owners had a tiller pin nicked down the arm at Ellesmere (or possibly dropped it in the cut :D)

another claimed a bag of coal nicked out of the front locker whilst in the marina

another claimed a full bottle of gas nicked and replaced with empty one whilst in old marina (or possibly didn't realise how much the Alde boiler eats gas)

Edited by Hudds Lad
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