Clamped Advice

LincolnshireYokel

bargepole wrote: »

I have boltcutters as well. Just cut the padlock, and leave the clamp attached to a nearby post or tree. Phone clampers, and tell them where it is. Police won't do anything, "it's a civil matter, sir".

No, you are all wrong, using bolt croppers or an angle grinder IS criminal damage, but only if the Police can prove you did it. The better plan is simply to leave the clamp where it is on the ground and deny all knowledge, claim it was like that when you returned to your car, and you thought it must have come off another car, as your car wasnt clamped when you got back to it - must have been cut off by a kindly stranger or passer by, guv Admitting any knowledge of it opens you up to prosecution. And make sure you hide the croppers and wipe your prints off the clamp.

give_them_FA

Wipe your prints off is a bit paranoid... the police are hardly going to set up an incident room. On the only occasion it happened to me I borrowed a pair of bolt cutters, cut the chain and left it where it was. Never heard any more about it.

mikey72

We just found the threat of violence worked well enough.

muckybutt

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

And its not illegal to own a lock pick set, btw, otherwise they wouldn't sell them.

Not illegal to own, but get caught out in the street with them and you'll have to ahve a bloody good excuse as to why you are carrying them around with you....

Going Equipped, The offence cannot take place at the defendant's place of abode. It must be proved that he had the articles with him for the purpose of using them in connection with burglary, theft or obtaining property by deception though it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that the defendant intended to use them himself. An intention to use the item if the opportunity arose would be sufficient to convict the accused, but it would not be sufficient where he had not actually decided whether to use the item if the opportunity presented itself.

LincolnshireYokel

muckybutt wrote: »

Not illegal to own, but get caught out in the street with them and you'll have to ahve a bloody good excuse as to why you are carrying them around with you....

Going Equipped, The offence cannot take place at the defendant's place of abode. It must be proved that he had the articles with him for the purpose of using them in connection with burglary, theft or obtaining property by deception though it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that the defendant intended to use them himself. An intention to use the item if the opportunity arose would be sufficient to convict the accused, but it would not be sufficient where he had not actually decided whether to use the item if the opportunity presented itself.

Been there, done that. I do lock picking as a hobby, officer. prove i dont, here the current padlock im working on. Without a previous conviction for burglary or going equipped, practically impossible to prove otherwise

ppc_guy

The LCC padlocks (as used by DVLA and most local authorities as well as clampers) are easy to pick and can be done in about 10 seconds with a small bit of practice.

LincolnshireYokel

ppc_guy wrote: »

The LCC padlocks (as used by DVLA and most local authorities as well as clampers) are easy to pick and can be done in about 10 seconds with a small bit of practice.

Yes, if you get into the mechanics and construction of locks, you realise that it doesnt matter how chunky and fearsome the lock looks, the only bit that matters are the five small brass tumblers in the barrel, and how well they are made and fit. If its a sloppy fit, it'll fall open. Some locks have anti pick, which means one of the tumblers is mushroom shaped, makes it much harder.

Apart from that, theirs other ways to open padlocks. On way is to make a barrel shaker, the easiest form is a battery toothbrush with a wavy hairpin fixed to the end, - it vibrates the tumblers and they fall into place. Another technique is 'raking' - dragging a wavy edge over the tumblers. On some padlocks they can be 'shimmed', and a feeler gauge forced down into the lock .

Bump keys are the most jealously guarded secret of locksmiths, its hard to explain in words, but simply you make a key that fits the lock and the teeth pattern goes ^^^^^ from max to min, you then push it in until the highs are in between the tumblers, and then tap the end of the key with a mallet whilst twisting. You need a bump key for every different key pattern, but a set of bump keys for each of the 60 most used Yale Lock key profiles will cost you £200 and you'll be able to open 95% of all Yale pattern locks in the world - bearing in mind you can if you want make most of them for free using old keys.And wheras most coppers knows what a lock pick looks like, almost none of them would recognise a bump key if they saw one.

Good video on it here http://youtu.be/pwTVBWCijEQ