Some degenerate scum were going round Crookes on Friday night trying get into people's houses.

My boyfriends housemate was in the house with the back door unlocked. The ******** chanced it, opened the back door took my car keys and stole my car.

They also stole stuff from other house nearby.

So lock your doors even if your just in the next room!

Or you'll end hugely ****** off, massively inconvenienced like me and out of pocket.

Sadly you've just illustrated why these losers target areas like Crookes, Crookesmoor and Walkley.

With many student occupied properties, it's easy-pickings. That's not to say it doesn't happen elsewhere. I keep my front door locked most of the time and when I leave for work in the morning always lock my family in (but they DO have a key, you understand).

You just never know!

Sorry to hear of your plight.

Just a tip .Don't leave car keys/house keys near any doors. People do have a habit of putting their keys down on the side when they walk in. Sneak thieves know this. Thats how they make a living.:mad: This goes for mobile phones /wallets and purses.Easy pickings for them....;)It only takes a couple of seconds ,and they are gone.:suspect:
It's not just a Crookes /Walkley problem .

I live up in Crookes and not feeling too safe at the mo. Came home on tues night to find some random scrubber standing in the alleyway to my house, what the hell!

He didnt say anything but eventually moved out th way. I dont know what I would have done if I was by myself.

I dont know what he was doing but my boyfriend went out a bit later and he eventually moved off down the street, but he was still standing by peoples doorways.

very unpleasant character..............what is going on?

Make sure they can't enter your cellar via the grate at the front of the house. We were done like that, child squeezed down grate then up stairs and passed stuff out of window to accomplice. Either block the grate, hang a weight off it to prevent it being lifted or seriously bolt the door at top of cellar steps. Then if the little scrote does manage to get into the cellar he'll have trouble getting into the rest of the house.

Last week someone I know in Crookes came home to find a burglar in her house. He had forced the Yale lock and made off with a computer and some smaller electrical goods, if she hadn't disturbed him it would have been a lot more since it's a student house.
The police said there had been a spate of break-ins in the area and no-one had been caught yet so PLEASE make sure your house is as secure as possible! I think the guy is an opportunist and will only break in places that are easy targets so be extra vigilant about using your deadlocks, window locks etc.
She was pretty shaken up to have faced him but apparently the police turned up ultra-fast and were really brilliant. She was very impressed with their response and the follow up from them, it sounds like they are doing their best to catch the guy.

Been a few dodgy characters lurking around my street after dark in Crookes. Made a point yesterday of asking a guy who seemed awfully interested in my car if he needed directions. Apparently not as he soon disappeared, a couple of others at the end of the street drinking Special Brew, my GF only lives 100yards away but now I feel like I can't let her walk it alone.

What roads/part of Crookes are you talking about?

I'm just off school road, near the top

Originally posted by markg
I'm just off school road, near the top

I live in that neck of the woods and we got 'got' in the summer. Some keys were taken and some damage to the window they broke open, nothing else though.

Originally posted by burnttoast
Just a tip .Don't leave car keys/house keys near any doors.
I agree with burnttoast here.

It totally amazes me that people still Naïvely leave their wallets, purses and keys near unlocked doors and letterboxes. :rant:

We have been told in no uncertain terms not to do this for 20 years. For years cars have been stolen by thieves who use fishing rods to hook car keys through letter boxes, and most car insurance tells you to take your keys upstairs.

When I was a student on ecclesall road in the late 1980s I fitted a self locking yale lock without a latch so that everyone in the household kept their keys in the pocket for this very reason.

It is also nothing to do with the area. In all areas we get unwanted callers.

on a similar subject i was helping a friend move out of her house in manchester this week, returned from a self storage place to find the landlady changing the locks and refused to let us in to get the rest of my friends stuff!
anyway the landlady totally flipped and rang the police and told them there were burglars in her house (we had keys, the door was open and my friend did not have to be out until 9pm that night)

about ten minutes later a police car and van turned up, Q me thinking we were gonna end up in the cells. however the police were very professional and calmed the situation down, got landlady to agree to give us till 9pm to shift the rest of the stuff and were a bit peeved that the landlady had called us as they told us it was a civil matter and nowt to do with them.

phew! only just calmed my nerves down! and to top of the day i nearly crashed on the way home!

Originally posted by tumbleweed

So lock your doors even if your just in the next room!

[/B]

You are absolutely right tumbleweed. My SO thinks I am really paranoid to do this but your story and everyone elses just supports my point.

I have been known to to demonstrate how easy it would be to pinch his wallet or car keys when he has left the door unlocked....

I live on cross lane (up from crookes road) and a lot of bizarre things have been going on.
Loads of random people hanging about and muggings etc.

I always lock my door (or at least put the chain on) as soon as i'm inside, i've done that whereever i've lived. I had a policeman visit a couple of weeks ago for something random and he seemed surprised when he tried to get out that i had locked the door :suspect:

wish my parents would get the hang of it, they always leave the back door open when they are in the front room and wonder why i take my keys/bag with me rather than leave them in clear view of the back door!! GRRR

(Oh BTW i'm not telling you where they live :p)

A few years ago someone I worked with came home from doing her christmas shopping, all loaden up and the first thing she did when she got in was to dump her bags and nip to the loo (like a lot of us do) when she came down she realised she hadn't locked the door after her and somebody had nipped in, took her handbag and some of her pressies.

When she told the Police they said it was happening a lot, thieves were following female shoppers home because they knew a lot of them went straight upstairs to either the loo or get changed and didn't lock the door after them.

How awful that this goes on in Sheffield, realy hard to belive, i think i would be afraid to live there again now.

I live in a working class town, every one in my area goes out to work at different time, no one locks their door or windows, i never take my car keys out of the car, i't never been broken into, just one small incident with a teenager 30 year ago.

Got loads of stuff in the garage, no ones ever touched a thing.

You people must dread getting home at night wondering if anyones robbed you......... do you ever think of moveing ?

Hi Poppins, you do live in a good area!
sadly its not like that just in Sheffield, I've lived in other places too and i still never leave things unlocked. I'm currently staying in a nice rural place in the Peak Dist and still make sure the door is locked, windows closed, car safe etc ....

Originally posted by muddycoffee
.....and most car insurance tells you to take your keys upstairs.


Mine are either in my hand ('cause I'm unlocking the car door), in the ignition or in my pocket.

Poppins,
I spent a few days in a friends house in a small bavarian town in one of the nicest parts of Germany this year and was totally amazed to see nothing locked and people sleeping with their garage doors wide open, with their nice cars and motorcycles with keys left in. And all their bicycles and tools on display too.

I was totally flabbergasted. It just appeared to me to be stupidity/ignorance/lazyness, but apparently not, they never have crime. :confused:

Originally posted by muddycoffee
I agree with burnttoast here.

It totally amazes me that people still Naïvely leave their wallets, purses and keys near unlocked doors and letterboxes. :rant:

We have been told in no uncertain terms not to do this for 20 years. For years cars have been stolen by thieves who use fishing rods to hook car keys through letter boxes, and most car insurance tells you to take your keys upstairs.

When I was a student on ecclesall road in the late 1980s I fitted a self locking yale lock without a latch so that everyone in the household kept their keys in the pocket for this very reason.

It is also nothing to do with the area. In all areas we get unwanted callers.

Clearly it's my fault then. My fault that someone enters property that isn't their's and steals from it. These things just happen momentarily, I am not naive.

Sometimes people have a lot ton their mind, act without necessarily thinking about the action from start to finish, then unfortunately some ******* is lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to exploit it.

I know its crap when someone does that to you (I've been in a similar situation and its horrible)
Its not your fault that someone has taken it upon themselves to enter your property and help themselves, but thats what makes them criminals!
We all make mistakes and it does only take a slight slip of the mind to forget to lock/chain the door, but sadly there are scum in this world that will act on that slip up. In the society we live in we just have to be aware that anyone walking past you on the street could feasibly be looking to rob you in some way and we must act accordingly, its a horrible way to live but its the way it is.
The more you get into the habit of putting things in safe place and automatically locking doors/windows the easier it gets!
My sympathies for what has happened
Best wishes
Em
xx

Originally posted by poppins
How awful that this goes on in Sheffield, realy hard to belive, i think i would be afraid to live there again now.

I live in a working class town, every one in my area goes out to work at different time, no one locks their door or windows, i never take my car keys out of the car, i't never been broken into, just one small incident with a teenager 30 year ago.

Got loads of stuff in the garage, no ones ever touched a thing.

You people must dread getting home at night wondering if anyones robbed you......... do you ever think of moveing ?

and the streets are paved with gold and milk and honey runs in the streams instead of water.

Originally posted by poppins
How awful that this goes on in Sheffield, realy hard to belive, i think i would be afraid to live there again now.

Got loads of stuff in the garage, no ones ever touched a thing.

You people must dread getting home at night wondering if anyones robbed you......... do you ever think of moveing ?

It's just city life! These things happen sometimes! Don't tell me there aren't places in the USA that are a LOT worse than Sheffield!! There are cities in this country that are a lot worse too, Sheffield really isn't that bad. And no, I wouldn't want to move, this place might have its faults but it's got a lot going for it too.

Originally posted by tumbleweed
Clearly it's my fault then. My fault that someone enters property that isn't their's and steals from it. These things just happen momentarily, I am not naive.

Sometimes people have a lot ton their mind, act without necessarily thinking about the action from start to finish, then unfortunately some ******* is lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to exploit it.

If you really think that it all comes down to someone being "in the right place at the right time" ,then you must be naive.These people make a living out of what they do. They know all the ins and outs of crime. The only thing we can all do is try to make it difficult for them. And getting into the habit of locking doors after you is a start. Christmas is near so the tow rags will be on overtime. Don't make it easy for them:rant:

Originally posted by muddycoffee
For years cars have been stolen by thieves who use fishing rods to hook car keys through letter boxes, and most car insurance tells you to take your keys upstairs.



the keys nicked from our house were taken from a room upstairs. If they'd been hidden, still would have been taken as the thief had a good old rummage (no jewellery or owt of value to find though) My housemate was asleep in the attic and woke to a burglar turning her light on.

Originally posted by burnttoast
If you really think that it all comes down to someone being "in the right place at the right time" ,then you must be naive.These people make a living out of what they do. They know all the ins and outs of crime. The only thing we can all do is try to make it difficult for them. And getting into the habit of locking doors after you is a start. Christmas is near so the tow rags will be on overtime. Don't make it easy for them:rant:

I simply meant that they were in the right place at the one particular time that I had been stressed and preoccupied and didn't put the keys straight back into my bag which was with me.

Obviously I know that they didn't just appear in some puff of smoke just at the right time. They had clearly been hanging aroung for god knows how long trying peoples doors.

It was just my bad luck that I was caught this particular time. But not my fault and not because I am naive.

Originally posted by tumbleweed
I simply meant that they were in the right place at the one particular time that I had been stressed and preoccupied and didn't put the keys straight back into my bag which was with me.

Obviously I know that they didn't just appear in some puff of smoke just at the right time. They had clearly been hanging aroung for god knows how long trying peoples doors.

It was just my bad luck that I was caught this particular time. But not my fault and not because I am naive.

I am usually very careful. It would be quite possible that this could happen to me again, because like I say it was a split second thing where I was preoccupied. I am very likely to be in this situation again and maybe do the same.

Meaning that I couldn't prevent it.

Originally posted by Cyclone
and the streets are paved with gold and milk and honey runs in the streams instead of water.

Bit of a daft reply don't you think ?

A few years back my wife was visiting her sister. Put her bag down in the kitchen. Went in the front room with a cuppa, Remembered obout the bag, went to get it ...gone...along with some of sisters belongings. Phoned bank stopped cards etc. contacted police. Went to bank, found out within 20 mins, max ammount withdrawn 3 miles away before a stop was put on .And no the pin no was not with the card, :confused: Ever since she's been very careful to the point of being paranoid about locking doors. Just drop your guard once and the scum will cash in .:cool:

This whole chip and pin thing is rubbish, because if you don't know you're pin you can sign for it instead, which means people can be rinsed by thieves using cashback.

I live just off school road and afew weeks ago my housemate put out a couple of pairs of jeans, jumpers and t-shirts on the washing line, literally 5 yards from our back door. Within an hour they had all gone, probably 200 quids worth of clothes. Wasn't even windy!
What kind of a world is it when people can't even put out their washing to dry without fear of it being stolen?

Originally posted by liveforever
This whole chip and pin thing is rubbish, because if you don't know you're pin you can sign for it instead, which means people can be rinsed by thieves using cashback.

Until 14th February...

BURGLARS ARE HITIN PARSONSCROSS TO AT THE MO,WORD IS ITS JUNKIES.BUT I FIND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BUYING THE STUFF ARE JUST AS BAD.WE HAVE THEM KNOCKING ON THE DOOR EVERY NOW AN AGAIN AN YOU KNOW SOME ONES BIN DONE OVER ITS SICK,HOW CAN ANY 1 THING THEIR GETIN A GOOD DEAL WHEN ITS SOME ONE IN THEIR OWN AREA AND PROB KNOW THEM ITS JUST FUELING THE JUNKIES HABIT AND INCREASING BREAKINS :suspect:

Originally posted by trudge72
BURGLARS ARE HITIN PARSONSCROSS TO AT THE MO,WORD IS ITS JUNKIES.BUT I FIND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BUYING THE STUFF ARE JUST AS BAD.WE HAVE THEM KNOCKING ON THE DOOR EVERY NOW AN AGAIN AN YOU KNOW SOME ONES BIN DONE OVER ITS SICK,HOW CAN ANY 1 THING THEIR GETIN A GOOD DEAL WHEN ITS SOME ONE IN THEIR OWN AREA AND PROB KNOW THEM ITS JUST FUELING THE JUNKIES HABIT AND INCREASING BREAKINS :suspect:

no need to shout

Originally posted by rich951
Until 14th February...

Call me stupid... but whats happening then?

It does surprise me somewhat that there are people who keep their doors unlocked. If our door is unlocked, then it will be open (An unlocked door is as secure as an open door).