The amount of oil held in the average outdoor central heating oil tank is probably worth at least £1200 and is now making it a real target for thieves.  Terry Rattee, Managing Director of Crime Prevention Products said “When you hear that thieves are already stealing petrol and diesel from cars parked up in the street because of the high cost of fuel at the moment, it was obvious that it wouldn’t be long before they  realised the huge profits to be made by stealing heating oil.”

There are two things that can be done to help prevent this type of crime. The first is to install a Driveway Alarm in the vicinity of the Oil Tank so that if anyone goes in the area of the tank, an alarm or chime is sent wirelessly to a receiver unit in the house.  (You may even fit additional movement detectors elsewhere around the garden which will send a signal to the same receiver unit inside). This way, the occupier is made aware of the movement and can take the necessary steps to stop the theft early.

The second is to secure the storage tank using a  Chaperone Siren Padlock Alarm which is robustly made and will trigger a 110 decibel two-tone alarm if tampered with!  Although the alarm stops after 10 seconds of inactivity, it will immediately re-sound if moved again and not many thieves want to hang around when such an alarm is going off, for fear of being caught.

Terry added “This Padlock Alarm is corrosion resistant and made with a hardened zinc alloy body and will sound off whether moved or subjected to shock (like being hit with a hammer or jemmy).  It is weather resistant and the batteries can only be accessed when the padlock has been unlocked.”

POLICE officers have been conducting house to house inquiries in areas of Ramsey in relation to the ongoing investigation into a series of suspected arson incidents.  Two suspicious fires have now occurred in the town during the last 3 weeks.   The second happened at property in the Summerland area when a take- away food container was pushed into the letterbox and set alight.

A spokesman for the Northern Neighbourhood Policing Team said: ‘We are trying to gather as much information as possible and I am grateful for our community’s continued support and co-operation.”

If anyone has concerns about the security of their property, with particular regard to their letterbox access, you can get  Anti Arson Letterboxes  (see example right)  and metal Visor Guards (see below) which will defeat the criminal, hands down!

The Fireproof letterbox contains a small polymer tube filled with  Ozone-Friendly FE-25 which will extinguish any fire within seconds, AND prevent it from re-igniting!

The Visor Guard helps prevent anyone reaching in through the letterbox to unlock the door or even to see much if they just try and peek in because they can only look downwards.  

Police are also hunting an arsonist who struck at a house in Dalton last week. A number of firefighters battled to stop the blaze spreading through the mid-terrace house in Harpe Inge, after being called at 2.45am. Petrol had been used to fuel the fire, which ripped through the downstairs rooms and spread to the rest of the house.  Smoke pouring from the blaze forced occupants of the adjoining houses to flee. 

Finally, in yet another attack an explosion which partially demolished a house in the West Midlands is being treated as arson, police have said. The blast in Smethwick, just before 5pm caused a severe fire and 3 people living at the three-storey semi-detached home were accounted for and a number of nearby neighborus were taken into temporary accommodation overnight.