Security for your fuel stores

[Medusa]

With solid and liquid fuel prices rising how do you secure your stores? We are very overdue a new fuel tank for our heating oil and am considering some form of locking cap when we replace it. Our wood shed has a lock on it, however it is a pretty flimsy shed and would be pretty easy to pick the padlock or cut a hole in the shed itself. We do have a good lock on our garden gate and rely on the fences, overgrown brambles and generally things in the way at the back to keep us more secure. I also intend to get some brackets to stop the side fences being lifted and add more security lights at the back and am still considering beam alarms around the perimeter. Any other ideas?

[pseudonym]

Disguise it. Some of my wood pile is in two wheelie bins.

[jansman]

I cannot disguise my wood or coal. Half of my garden IS a woodpile! I AM surprised though,that I have not heard of petrol/ diesel theft from vehicles

[Yorkshire Andy]

With solid and liquid fuel prices rising how do you secure your stores? We are very overdue a new fuel tank for our heating oil and am considering some form of locking cap when we replace it. Our wood shed has a lock on it, however it is a pretty flimsy shed and would be pretty easy to pick the padlock or cut a hole in the shed itself. We do have a good lock on our garden gate and rely on the fences, overgrown brambles and generally things in the way at the back to keep us more secure. I also intend to get some brackets to stop the side fences being lifted and add more security lights at the back and am still considering beam alarms around the perimeter. Any other ideas?

With the fuel tank can you not install it then build or buy a garden shed to encase it? A shed without a floor or cut out round the tank? Bit of work but will sort of hide it from prying eyes and make access sort of difficult . As a added bonus it'll keep sunlight off the tank so it'll last longer .

I've seen it where the lovely scrote have heated a scaffold tube with we guessed oxy and stuck it through the outer bund skin into the tank and just filled as many barrels as they could and left the rest to leak all over the floor so unless you go for a steel bunded tank a lock on the top won't deter them

[diamond lil]

They use drones to spy out back garden tanks, so I think a fake structure of some sort would be best. Like a fake summerhouse with fake windows + curtains maybe? Wouldn't be as interesting to thieves as a shed and you just need it to look real enough to fool a quick look.

[Vitamin c]

In my village anybody strange sticks out but the bigger more expensive homes on the outskirts of the village that's a different matter, most are alarmed many have camera's but only to protect the house most of them travel to the bigger city's for work and the homes are empty during the day.
So if theirs a lock they would have the time and privacy to deal with it if it's very well secured they will do lots more damage to gain access then it becomes a catch 22 of price of fuel v price of new tank .

I personally would use some sort of door bell type camera hidden that picks up movement you log in watch what's happening if it's bad ring cops.


Another problem is those tanks are considered a eye sore and are hidden behind bushes /fences giving even more privacy for the criminal.

[Nurseandy]

We have a plastic oil tank, there's a padlock eye to secure the filler cap but I don't bother. 2 seconds and the whole cap would jemmy off padlock or not. Thankfully it's rare that there's no one at home which massively increases security.

Thinking about it though, perhaps it's worth putting a padlock on just for insurance purposes - you know, so it looks like I've made an effort.

[jansman]

They use drones to spy out back garden tanks, so I think a fake structure of some sort would be best. Like a summerhouse with fake windows + curtains maybe? Wouldn't be as interesting to thieves as a shed and you just need it to look real enough to fool a quick look.

We have had a spate of drones hovering over the gardens lately. One kept coming low over ours, and I gestured to it to’go away’. The cocky so and so dropped it right down in front of my wife who was sitting out. I grabbed an air rifle out of the shed and pumped a round into it. Don’t know what damage I did, but it didn’t come back!

[Medusa]

With the fuel tank can you not install it then build or buy a garden shed to encase it? A shed without a floor or cut out round the tank? Bit of work but will sort of hide it from prying eyes and make access sort of difficult . As a added bonus it'll keep sunlight off the tank so it'll last longer .

I've seen it where the lovely scrote have heated a scaffold tube with we guessed oxy and stuck it through the outer bund skin into the tank and just filled as many barrels as they could and left the rest to leak all over the floor so unless you go for a steel bunded tank a lock on the top won't deter them

That is a really good idea and one which we might just do

[Nurseandy]

They use drones to spy out back garden tanks, so I think a fake structure of some sort would be best. Like a summerhouse with fake windows + curtains maybe? Wouldn't be as interesting to thieves as a shed and you just need it to look real enough to fool a quick look.

We have had a spate of drones hovering over the gardens lately. One kept coming low over ours, and I gestured to it to’go away’. The cocky so and so dropped it right down in front of my wife who was sitting out. I grabbed an air rifle out of the shed and pumped a round into it. Don’t know what damage I did, but it didn’t come back!

Keep your salmon net handy next time