MSE News: Stay protected against festival foul-ups 13 August 2012 at 3:48PM in Insurance & life assurance 15 replies 1.9K views

Former_MSE_Helen

"Amid the summer festival season, there are a number of steps you can take to protect your belongings, and wallet..."

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Stay protected against festival foul-ups

Mimkat

People should NOT use padlocks on tents. That just says to thieves that you've got something in there worth stealing. They will just use a knife to cut their way in. So you end with a ruined tent & stolen stuff.

A top tip from festival police at Glastonbury is to leave your tent as messy as possible. Thieves want to be in & out, they don't want to waste time rifling through your possessions.

OlliesDad

The last point on the article says "Write down your credit or debit card number, with the bank's phone number, in case you need to cancel the card."

Is it really wise to have your bank card number written down on a piece of paper which could go missing (arguably easier to lose than a card).

Surely if you ring your bank they will be able to cancel your card without the number, after all, i imagine most people who lose their card won't know their number.

Bongedone

Mimkat wrote: »

People should NOT use padlocks on tents. That just says to thieves that you've got something in there worth stealing. They will just use a knife to cut their way in. So you end with a ruined tent & stolen stuff.

A top tip from festival police at Glastonbury is to leave your tent as messy as possible. Thieves want to be in & out, they don't want to waste time rifling through your possessions.

Very good point about not using a padlock

Mimkat

OlliesDad wrote: »

Is it really wise to have your bank card number written down on a piece of paper which could go missing (arguably easier to lose than a card).

Good point. Personally I don't take cards, I take cash & use the free lock ups for storing my cash. I just pop in there every morning to 'withdraw' a bit. The queues at the lock ups are loads shorter than the queues for the cash points.

If you must take a card, leave your details at home with parents or partner or someone you trust. That way if you need to cancel anything you can ring them & get your card number from them, then ring the bank.

ikkle87

• Check if the festival organiser has a lock-up area, which is usually free. Not all of them are free, Download do a Locker service where you pay a fee for the weekend (5 days in our case) but they also are supplied with electricity so you can charge your phone etc in there if needed.
• When asleep, keep belongings in the bottom of the sleeping bag. Don't think that just because your in your tent your stuff is safe, thieves can be crafty !!!!!!s. Also if you get wet you can put your wet clothes in the bottom of your sleeping bag while you sleep to dry out (obviously not with your camera etc)
• When your tent is unoccupied, lock it with a padlock. Don't do this, if someone wants to get in your tent a small padlock won't stop them, it will more than likely say you've got something worth nicking.
  
• Only take as much cash as you'll actually need. If you can pay by card (not always possible) this may be safer. Paying by card at festivals isn't very money saving, the cash machines usually charge and stall holders do too. Try to keep cash on you if possible in a place which is not easily accessible, sticking money in your bra is great unless your gonna whip your boobs out when the camera points near you!!! Otherwise keep it in your locker if possible.
  
• Don't take unnecessary valuables. If you have a spare old phone, why not take that instead of a smartphone? If you can take a spare phone great, if not one way to save money by saving your battery is to turn 3G off and keep it on a 2G service then you won't need to visit charging stations and pay a ridiculous amount of money for a short stint to boost your battery.
• Don't flash the cash, expensive jewellery or hi-tech gadgets.
• If you park your car, leave the glove box open and empty. It deters thieves.
• Use a UV pen to mark as much of your property (tent, clothing, phone) with your postcode and phone number.
• Write down your credit or debit card number, with the bank's phone number, in case you need to cancel the card. Whenever I've cancelled my cards they've only ever needed the last 4 digits. If you do need the full card number don't take it with you leave it at home with someone who can text it to you if needed.

Kite2010

If you park your car, leave the glove box open and empty. It deters thieves.

And come back to an car with a dead battery when the glove-box light drains it. Some cars you can't disable the light in the glove-box when it's open.

The Glastonbury leaflet says not to padlock a tent as it says to any potential trouble-makers that you've got something of value in there, and a tent isn't the most secure object with thin fabric sides.

About the spare-phone, pick up a cheap PAYG phone from the likes of Tesco for around £10, it's normally unlocked so get the best Sim card and load it up with credit, if you lose it the most you would have lost is £20 compared to £200+ for a smartphone. Thieves probably won't even touch a crappy £10 plastic phone as it's not worth anything.

girl_withno_name

Mimkat wrote: »

People should NOT use padlocks on tents. That just says to thieves that you've got something in there worth stealing. They will just use a knife to cut their way in. So you end with a ruined tent & stolen stuff.

A top tip from festival police at Glastonbury is to leave your tent as messy as possible. Thieves want to be in & out, they don't want to waste time rifling through your possessions.

I was just heading over here to say the exact same thing!

bell

Padlock is the worst advice ever and MSE should edit it from the article as it's just asking for trouble.

My tip for cash is keep it on you at all times and try to get clothing (shorts) etc with a zip pocket, so your wallet doesn't fall out when crowd-surfing. You can also get those security wallets that fasten round your waist.


Never been to a festival with free lockers yet. Lockerhouse charges around £15 for the weekend. Good investment if you are worried.


With regards to phones, if you must bring your iPhone (I always do). Then you can buy a Pebble battery charger from play for £18 which will recharge an iPhone 4 times. It's almost cheaper than a locker (if you bought mainly for the phone charger) and you can use it at future festivals.

MSE_Tony

Thank you for your input to date regarding our article.

It appears that the padlock tip is the ‘tip’ that is causing a bit of a storm.

This was mentioned as insurers do have a ‘preventing loss’ type condition attached to home insurance policies. Would zipping the tent closed be sufficient action to prevent a theft? This is open to interpretation but by attaching a pad-lock, it would be fair to say you did your best to prevent a theft.

In the meantime, please do continue with the feedback, recommendations to avoid a loss, theft or any other ‘festival’ tips.

ikkle87

Attaching a padlock isn't doing your best though, it's like adding a neon flashing sign saying the owner of this tent thinks they have something worth pinching.