[Plottered]

sorry to hear of this washsaint but it really is a sign of the times...dont give in though or the * have beaten you ...keep going fella 

[SnooziSuzi]

Keep looking in the paper and you should end up getting a cheap one soon .

Yeah, probably the very one that was stolen

Sorry to hear about your misfortune; hope they get the !$%£*!+^s

[Oliver]

Thats awful. I can only repeat what has already been said.

What are your next step ? Are you going to/have you called the police ?

My commiserations. I know that horrible sinking feeling. You must report the matter to the police - it's 'criminal damage'. If you have a further problem saying ' this has happened before' will not be good enough.

Aside: We have some self-filling water troughs connected to the standpipe on our plots and some ragarse (shaun introduced me to this very descriptive word) stole the trough AND the standpipe. These things are not light, so there must have been 2 of them with a van.

[Robin Redbreast]

my commiserations! but dont give up only last year a friend and i got an allotment a few miles away we set about it and had it looking great until some little inkblot on our existence decided to rip everything  up and burn our sheds down as well as killing a few chooks.  but we picked up the peices and moved on to another lotty and touch wood have been ok and will be enjoying the fruits of our labour soon. also if you want a cheap shed have a look at the slight damaged areas in wickes and such like they might be missing a window or a few panels but they come alot cheaper! good luck for the future!

[8doubles]

Paint your initials where they can be easily seen from a distance on all 4 sides.
I read of a guy who buys a new outboard motor every year and the first thing he does is paint the engine cover with black bitumen paint so it looks like an 'old dog' of a motor.
He`s never had one stolen .

[barney rubble]

paint the engine cover with black bitumen paint

appallin, so sorry to hear about this...you can buy anti vandal paint which never actually dries, so is supposed to stick to the culprits, but I've never tried it

[Larkshall]

I read of a guy who buys a new outboard motor every year and the first thing he does is paint the engine cover with black bitumen paint so it looks like an 'old dog' of a motor.
He`s never had one stolen .

We have the same problem with lightweight cycles, one chap painted his with bitumen paint and it never got stolen in years.

[Mythi]

I am so sorry to hear this washsaint 

My shed was broken into last weekend and cleaned out (all tools, fleece, netting etc) so have some idea how you feel.

Keep on keeping on and don't give up, I'm not going to let the barstewards win, I hope you don't too

[washsaint]

Thanks all for your kind words.......a day later and i really do feel sorry for the no marks. 

Worst thing was when I reported it to the police, they spent 10 minutes asking me what ethnicity I was, waht my job title was, who I worked for, etc and when I asked them what that had to do with a shed nicked from an allotment they said 'this will be registered as an unsolved crime as there is nothing we can do'.  Still at least their stats will look good............

[bailey]

a step back in time would be good so that these scum get what they deserve and you can give them a clip..

do report these things to the police no matter how trivial, in york police are saying crime is down but only because folk don,t report things due to the longwinded system,, nothing will be done straight away but several reports may give you or the allotment com some ammo to go to the the council and get some improvements or similar

[Yorkie]

Bailey, I don't know which part of York you're in but today our local PCSOs spent 2 hours down at our site, available for all lotty tenants at the 3 sites of our association to discuss security and any other police relevant issues which they wanted to do.  They have done this regularly and are happy to do it whenever asked along.

They would desperately like people to report the crimes on the official police number, rather than just reporting them in the lotty hut, as resources are allocated according to those reports and then they can act.  If there's no official problem, the PCSOs and other investigative resources get sent elsewhere.

[bailey]

I live east of york and what I call my lottie is actually some land adjacent to my father in laws house so only me,,

but having worked closely with north yorks police i have seen how things operate,the official number given to report is a little like a call centre, 99% of calls made are just that a report details taken and a crime number given, very rarely would an officer be contacted to attend. Especially for what would be classed as a minor incident, the only way you may gat a good responce is wether the scum are still on site and a definate crime has taken place even then you may still have to be lucky..

Personally I feel sorry for the police as their backs are against the wall with stupid paperwork/human rights ect,,

[janet12000]

I hate it when the police say 'oh its just kids'.
Kids who are going around stealing stuff and smashing windows of cars and houses...but it's ok, cause they are 'just kids'.
My car has been vandalised and my house pelted with eggs by these lovely kids.

At the moment the house next door is vacant. (its a council house). It has been totally vandalised by the little darlings. They have stolen fences, gates, the shed etc... and guess what...... when I phoned up the council the  answer I got was.... 'oh it's just kids' 

[bailey]

hi Janet i know exactly how what you feel,,
but unfortunately the police know that they are onto a loser with these kids, not the polices fault but the do gooders amongst us!

[2peasinapod]

Title says it all.


we have a police poster up on the Big Shed with direct contact details on and they are on site keeping an eye out as well.