Theft at Westfield

[Steve Lovatt]

Last night we had a new honda 420 stolen along with 4 new Promatic super sport traps bolted onto silver square frames 

if anyone can point us in the right direction of this kit  it is worth free shooting forever and a day 

 

[Sian]

Terrible Steve, sorry to hear that.  Let's hope with it on Facebook, something might turn up.

 

[RobertBeard]

Rotten luck Steve!

I hope you get lucky and they get recovered.

 

[Will Hewland]

Crikey. If I had a clay ground, I think I would be out there engraving ID codes in hidden places on all my kit. UV paint / GPS tracking, the lot! B*stards.

 

[Steve Lovatt]

It's all done Will , smart water , ID stamps , but it only works if they are found , billy nob head crook ain't bothered about things like that 

 

[ExSCA]

Have shared on ShootClay FB page - and of course here, hope you get a result Steve. 

The traps are a tricky one - but I would have thought the quad is easier to trace, not as many of those specific ones around.

Good luck in finding the scumbags. 

 

[Salopian]

Steve,

 I seriously believe these are stolen to order and possibly being shipped abroad. BUT what are Customs and Excise + Police doing about it? What is the export paperwork saying? Eight stolen from Oakedge a few weeks ago.

Could it be the CPSA stealing to order from Premier Grounds to encourage Straw Balers to upgrade  .

Seriously, this is a poison that has been with us for far too long.

Could I ask all of us to be vigilant , if your local club or you know of one that suddenly 'inherits' more traps , ask questions, perhaps we should all register our trap numbers with the manufacturer then we could cross reference? 

 

[schmokinn]

its sh*t...southern counties the other week as well.

its not like someone can suddenly open a new shoot with them without somebody noticing something.

considerably more traps have been turning up on ebay recently so you might get the odd one pop up there.

think you might be right about them going abroad just to small a market here for people to not notice them i would have thought,i genuinely believe that most clay shooters are good honest folk who would not want to do anything to jeopardize there hobby/sport/passion there may be some idiots but they still want to shoot.

i reckon we will be seeing some more grounds appearing in eastern europe h34r:

 

[woody]

It makes my piss steam. We find evidence of tampering and snooping all over our family farm.  Once we had 3 gates removed so the do-as-you-likeys could drive over the land in the night and empty the red diesel tank.  The sad thing about this story is that my sister's business is bringing on young event horses.  One that was valued at 60k was now free to wander into the road and be killed by a car http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7681814.stm

I have just moved my traps into the most secure location I can, but nothing is safe.  If we were done over that would be the end of our little shoot.

 

[jonz]

Steve,

 I seriously believe these are stolen to order and possibly being shipped abroad. BUT what are Customs and Excise + Police doing about it? What is the export paperwork saying? Eight stolen from Oakedge a few weeks ago.

Could it be the CPSA stealing to order from Premier Grounds to encourage Straw Balers to upgrade  .

Seriously, this is a poison that has been with us for far too long.

Could I ask all of us to be vigilant , if your local club or you know of one that suddenly 'inherits' more traps , ask questions, perhaps we should all register our trap numbers with the manufacturer then we could cross reference? 

Problem is there is no customs border or checks for movements to other EU countries stick them on a truck and drive to Europe no questions asked Feel sorry for Westfields but don't hold much hope of seeing their kit again 

 

[Doctor Lecter]

whats the police doing ?  can the cpsa help in any way ?   this is happening more and more  ,  the punishment aint severe enough when caught and convicted !

 

[Rosso]

 Hope you get them back with bits of fingers stuck in them covered in blood and the quad topples on top of them while riding a up a hill with Steve  shooting them up the arse.

 

[Nimbusgb]

Steve,

 I seriously believe these are stolen to order and possibly being shipped abroad. BUT what are Customs and Excise + Police doing about it? What is the export paperwork saying? Eight stolen from Oakedge a few weeks ago.

Could it be the CPSA stealing to order from Premier Grounds to encourage Straw Balers to upgrade  .

Seriously, this is a poison that has been with us for far too long.

Could I ask all of us to be vigilant , if your local club or you know of one that suddenly 'inherits' more traps , ask questions, perhaps we should all register our trap numbers with the manufacturer then we could cross reference? 

Free movement of goods within the EU, What export docs would those be?

I've driven ( several times ) from Sussex to Greece via 6 or 7 EU countries in a white van loaded with thousands of pounds worth of brand new yachting equipment and not once have I been asked for any paperwork! I've had the blokes at Dover look into the van on the return trip, ask if it was all my own gear and nod me on my way.

 

[Salopian]

Perhaps we should lubricate them with cannabis grease then?

 

[Aris]

Been thinking about this - and the best way to prevent theft.  It happened to a hay baler I sometimes shoot in Richings park near Heathrow about a year ago.  I suspect it will become more and more common as time goes.  These things are worth thousands, and just sit in isolated places often for a week or more with nobody using them.

First - physical security.  Bolt or even cement those things down and possibly cover them up in a secure-ish shed or box.  Paint the traps garish day glo pink or yellow.  Make them stand out.  Weld on multiple metal tags with your company name on them.  Make it difficult for them to pass these off onto someone else.

My second thought would be some kind of movement alarm linked to the GSM network.  At least you would get a heads up that something was happening.  GSM/GPS trackers are also viable - triggered with a geofence.  When it detects it is outside a specified zone, it send location data.  There are GSM enabled trail cameras available too.

IMHO the manufacturers could do more too if they put their heads to it.    Some sort of digitally coded key to make them run.  Of course this all adds cost.

Just some thoughts - and sorry for your loss.

 

[Dog Tyred]

or just cut the hands off the thieving toe-rags !

 

[Aris]

Looks like satellite comms has come a long way - and is even affordable.  So if you are out of GSM range, take a look at this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spot-Trace-Theft-Alert-Tracking-Device/dp/B00GQ8WW4M/

 

[Nimbusgb]

Looks like satellite comms has come a long way - and is even affordable.  So if you are out of GSM range, take a look at this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spot-Trace-Theft-Alert-Tracking-Device/dp/B00GQ8WW4M/

£80 per year per device monitoring charge and the SMS alert service does not work apparently in the UK. Battery life is variable.

 

[sibaldib]

 Hope you get them back with bits of fingers stuck in them covered in blood and the quad topples on top of them while riding a up a hill with Steve  shooting them up the arse.

Then they'd sue you and probably win.