Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary has issued advice to beach hut owners across the Island on how to help prevent becoming a target to offenders. Beach huts have been part of the history of the British Seaside since Victorian times. In more recent times, they have become increasingly popular with more and more Brits choosing to have a ‘staycation’ over going abroad. It is estimated there are around 20,000 beach huts in the UK including many beach huts around the coast of the Isle of Wight. Sadly, these huts can become targets to offenders with many storing equipment of value. As the Summer weather pops up, Police have the following advice for owners:
- Look after your beach hut: If your beach hut looks like it is not being used it is far more likely to suffer from criminal damage or antisocial behaviour. For the sake of you and your neighbours, local councils ask that you keep your beach hut tidy and in good repair. Poorly maintained beach huts are more likely to attract even more damage which may include vandalism to neighbouring beach huts.
- Keep an eye on your beach hut: Make sure to check your beach hut regularly during both the summer and winter months. If you’re not around ask a neighbouring beach hut owner to keep an eye on yours. If you see anything suspicious report it immediately to your local Police Force as early detection and warning may assist them in identifying offenders.
- Never leave any valuables in your beach hut overnight: The majority of beach huts are not secure enough to leave any resalable property in. Remember to remove any combustibles that are an obvious fire hazard.
- Make sure your beach hut is secure as it possibly can be and pay particular attention to the windows and doors: A door which can be easily opened will attract unwanted attention from a potential intruder.
- Fit a battery powered alarm: Many security alarms rely on a main electricity supply and a telephone line to be effective therefore these types of alarms would not be appropriate for a beach hut. It is possible to have a battery powered alarm fitted to your shed; these devices rely on putting an intruder off, and can send an alert to your phone or laptop if the trigger is activated.
CCTV is a much safer option.
Pay 2 or 3 people to sit and watch?? Mme… that sounds cost effective
Well done Donna Jones. I wish now I had voted for you with such great advice given, but I expect my Police precept will rise to pay for such in-depth advice
When I lived on IOW we were poor 9 in one two bedroom renta .no help grow Council ect Ialso had no help as AAA single handed Father.So how did I miss out Do The council owe me any Back Pay Cliff
Maybe your mother should have shut her legs? Simple
Is that English?
What a stupid article… talk about stating the obvious ! .. just what are you doing about police corruption ? … which is rampant in the UK… let’s have an article about that can we please ! …
Council should compulsory buy them back. Prime example of rich, greedy people not sharing. How many do u see used?? Gurnard seafront:- 3 or used every summer?
What a load of crap, why don’t the police do a proper job and protect people’s property, like we pay them to do with our council tax police precinct that goes up every year?