Security for narrowboats

IT IS is not really helpful for police just to say that simple lock and hasp  solutions are inadequate. I guess we all know that but do not have much alternative, writes Mike Todd.

Even solutions like on our boat which use a strong steel bar are vulnerable at the point of the lock. What is really needed is some positive, affordable and realistic guidance from security experts (which could include the police).

At risk

Canal boats are inevitably at risk even if most houses are just as easy to break-in to, as a result of the locations in which they are left unoccupied.

A few years ago we left our boat in broad daylight in a busy urban area with a steady stream of walkers, cyclists and joggers whilst we made a brief trip to a nearby supermarket. We were broken into and several electrical goods stolen. Two years earlier we had a similar experience with a hire boat.

Could do little

Although on both occasions the police attended quickly and efficiently they could could do little, and offered no advice on how to prevent it.

Instead of engaging in some of the posturing that gets nowhere, perhaps one of the canal groups could address this issue and do so in conjunction with insurers and police. I'd love to be able to do more for my own boat but am at a loss, short of leaving it permanently moored inside Fort Knox, as to how to make a significant reduction in risk from what we currently do.