Prevention better than creativity

As the schools break up and people go on holiday, insurance company Hiscox is warning that prevention is better than creativity when it comes to foiling burglars. Home owners can be extremely inventive when thinking of places in which to hide valuables but basic home security is likely to be far more effective in the end.

Imaginative hiding places uncovered by the insurance company include sewing jewellery into the lining of curtains, burying valuables in the garden, hiding treasured possessions in shoes and clothes, making your front door look scruffy in the hope that burglars will choose a better-cared-for house to burgle and hanging washing out before you go away to make the house look lived in.

The sad fact is that many of the favourite hiding places are known to thieves. Burglars are also likely to notice something awry if washing is left on the line for a fortnight, and things can go badly wrong when you forget that the shoes you are giving to the charity shop contain your prized jewellery.

Hiscox therefore recommends basic precautions such as the following:

• Good locks for all windows and doors (including patio doors and those on outbuildings)
• Security lighting outside
• A home safe for jewellery and other valuables and a bank deposit box for any particularly valuable objects
• Time-operated lights and/or a friend or neighbour to call in periodically

Andrew Cheney of Hiscox UK recommends that homeowners should think of creating “rings of security” around their properties to wear the would-be intruders down.