Good Old Delroy, he gets all the best Jobs :)

oscar21 said:

So what are you saying happens about it then. Its a proven fact that the police and courts will do absolutely nothing about it, van manufacturers will do nothing about it, a modern van is as easy to break into as a 1960's commer van. What you seem to be saying is its just tough, scum can quite happily take my stuff whenever they feel like it and when they do I need to buy more for them to take the next week.
I don't get your ideology, why would I go out to work to buy other people tools? Madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, the only thing that will work is to try something else, break their fingers.

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I can %100 that someone who has basically held a maybe 16yr old against their will and then smashed their hands in with a lump hammer isn’t going to be walking out of a court and is most likely going to get a very long time in prison.
And maybe leaving your family to look after themselves.
The money you would lose plus any compensation would far outweigh the loss of some tools.
How would you react if that happened to your little brother.

My little brother is 63 and if he where the type of person that did that sort of thing (which he is not) I would consider he deserve everything he gets.

Pikeys will return and make sure anyone who has given one of them a battering gets killed .

oscar21 said:

So what are you saying happens about it then.

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What needs to happen is far tougher laws and punishment for offenders. Better security, better security marking of tools and equipment.
Tools should be designed with some kind of security measures in them. Something like an easily removable, unique, 'key' that renders the tool useless when it is removed.

oscar21 said:

Its a proven fact that the police and courts will do absolutely nothing about it,

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I find it hard to believe that this is a proven fact, can you provide proof?

oscar21 said:

van manufacturers will do nothing about it, a modern van is as easy to break into as a 1960's commer van.

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Yes and they should be made to do something about it through legislation.

oscar21 said:

What you seem to be saying is its just tough, scum can quite happily take my stuff whenever they feel like it and when they do I need to buy more for them to take the next week.

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Then I think you need to read my post again as I have said nothing of the the sort. What I was saying is that we should not lower ourselves to the level of the criminals.
I'm saying that getting yourself convicted of assault is not going to help your cause at all and is going to harm you far more than it harms the person you attack.

oscar21 said:

I don't get your ideology, why would I go out to work to buy other people tools?

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That's not my ideology and I haven't said anything of the sort.

Mike Johnson said:

My little brother is 63 and if he where the type of person that did that sort of thing (which he is not) I would consider he deserve everything he gets.

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What if he was wrongly accused of it, maybe a case of mistaken identity, would that be OK?

davesparks said:

What if he was wrongly accused of it, maybe a case of mistaken identity, would that be OK?

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In fairness, this particular side discussion appeared to stem from a 'caught red handed' scenario.

Anyone caught in the act of peeling open a van is unlikely to have good reason for doing so.

nicebutdim said:

In fairness, this particular side discussion appeared to stem from a 'caught red handed' scenario.

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What about a chased round the corner and grap the first person you see there scenario?

Or catching someone red-handed of looking in the back of a van that someone else has just stolen tools out of?

If you see someone you don't recognise going into the back of someone else's van and decide it's time for a little summary justice only to proceed to smash the hands of their new apprentice/mate who's helping out for a day, is that OK?

Bottom line is quite simple - if crime A can be dealt with by crime B, then there is no fundamental basis to object if crime B is dealt with by crime C. What law and order we have breaks down if this happens, and we descend into total vigilante anarchy.

I'm sorry Del lost his tools, the loss in productivity is massive, and I hope he gets sorted out soon. But IMHO getting a crime number and (hopefully) making use of insurance is probably more productive than listening to hearsay about who did it and plotting revenge.

timhoward said:

Bottom line is quite simple - if crime A can be dealt with by crime B, then there is no fundamental basis to object if crime B is dealt with by crime C. What law and order we have breaks down if this happens, and we descend into total vigilante anarchy.

I'm sorry Del lost his tools, the loss in productivity is massive, and I hope he gets sorted out soon. But IMHO getting a crime number and (hopefully) making use of insurance is probably more productive than listening to hearsay about who did it and plotting revenge.

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He never lost them they were stolen

davesparks said:

What about a chased round the corner and grap the first person you see there scenario?

Or catching someone red-handed of looking in the back of a van that someone else has just stolen tools out of?

If you see someone you don't recognise going into the back of someone else's van and decide it's time for a little summary justice only to proceed to smash the hands of their new apprentice/mate who's helping out for a day, is that OK?

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I get the points you're making, Dave, but I've also seen the other side of similar issues. People losing hard earned possessions and it might take the police weeks to attend - if ever. "Take this crime reference number to your insurer" isn't the answer to this type of crime as it effectively endorses theft, by reason of losses should have been insured.

We aren't talking about the theft of a ham sandwich by someone unfortunate enough to find themselves homeless and without income. Tool thieves are generally well equiped with and able to make a quick escape with large and heavy items. Tool theft in the UK is a chosen way of life for gangs up and down the country - the same amount of effort in legitimate enterprise would generate significant income, but these people aren't interested in playing that game.

The statistics are out there as are court records, which represent only a tiny percentage of overall thefts. There have been a number of notable sentences handed down, but more often we see relatively light sentences handed out to people with lengthy records of similar theft.

Do I think beating the tripe out of a few thieves is going to make a difference? It certainly won't, but I wouldn't be too hasty to judge someone who took the law into their own hands in such circumstances - walk a mile in their shoes and all that. We've had a decent run of late in construction, but that's coming to an end and tool thefts are going to be the cause of many small businesses sinking as work becomes more scarce, operating costs increase and margins shrink.

One last point is that tool thieves don't stand around looking into vans and nor do they casually carry one or two items. When vans are emptied, it is usually with significant haste, zero care for damage caused and goods are slung uncaringly into a waiting vehicle. Method of entry ranges from expert with minimal signs of ingress to disc cutter used to open the side of a vehicle, but all have one thing in common and that's fast removal of tools and hasty escape - if someone making such an escape happened to run face first into a shovel, I might find myself struggling to feel much in the way of sympathy.

Mike Johnson said:

My little brother is 63 and if he where the type of person that did that sort of thing (which he is not) I would consider he deserve everything he gets.

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What if he was killed ?

I can just imagine you at his funeral saying he got everything he deserved.

Very odd, we have gone from giving a thief a slap too murder, the "what if's" are quite interesting to try and justify an opinion.

Mike Johnson said:

Very odd, we have gone from giving a thief a slap too murder, the "what if's" are quite interesting to try and justify an opinion.

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Giving someone a slap is completely different to smashing their hands in with a lump hammer.

A slap is a common assault and is unlikely to get into a courtroom.

There are many cases of people who have died from a single punch which would be manslaughter.

You obviously don’t watch emmerdale.

mainline said:

You obviously don’t watch emmerdale.

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Is that some kind of reality programme.

Mike Johnson said:

Is that some kind of reality programme.

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For Yorkshire folk.

davesparks said:

What needs to happen is far tougher laws and punishment for offenders. Better security, better security marking of tools and equipment.
Tools should be designed with some kind of security measures in them. Something like an easily removable, unique, 'key' that renders the tool useless when it is removed.


I find it hard to believe that this is a proven fact, can you provide proof?

Yes and they should be made to do something about it through legislation.

Then I think you need to read my post again as I have said nothing of the the sort. What I was saying is that we should not lower ourselves to the level of the criminals.
I'm saying that getting yourself convicted of assault is not going to help your cause at all and is going to harm you far more than it harms the person you attack.

That's not my ideology and I haven't said anything of the sort.

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On point two, this is my local court where I have been summons on several occasions in the past on the most heinous of rimes such as 36 in a 30.

10 years ago.


5 years ago


today


Yea, they don't bother with your everyday criminal anymore.

I don’t think a lump hammer to the hands make any difference.

I’ve smashed my thumb on a vast number of occasions with a big hammer while chasing walls… and it still works… mostly.

Dustydazzler said:

OH NO

Del had his Van broke into and they stole his Veto bag with all is tools in it and his drills and his MFT. There really are some scummy people out there to nick a tradesmans tools which he needs to make a living. Scummy thiefs

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So long as he's still got that Fluke meter then he'll be reet.

Lister1987 said:

So long as he's still got that Fluke meter then he'll be reet.

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he should ask bundy for a hand out.

Although I’m sure there are more needy than del

Sometimes the bad guys do get rough justice when they have been caught. I remember a fairly amusing incident. A small pub in my hometown back in Scotland. Bloody goldmine it was...like a cartoon pub where they all rushed in for opening and they drunk hard until lights out.
Anyway the pub in question was owned and run at the time by 2 boxers who had both fought and won in the Commonwealth Games...they run their pub brilliantly never giving out needless thrashings but everyone knew there really was a line and if you crossed it and ignored the repeated warnings (think yellow car leading to red card) then they would often fall over on their way out the side door.
The pub got broken into one night. The float was nicked and they bust open the fruit machine which at the time was full of 10p pieces. Owners discovered it in the morning and cleaned the place up and opened the doors. Now it may have been an unfortunate coincidence but a semi regular walked in 1st thing and proceeded to pay for his drinks using 10p pieces. 1st round, 2nd round and so on. He was a well-known petty thief and it was also observed that he had indeed been "skint" for the last few days. One of the owners asked him for a wee chat which resulted in the chap falling over quite hard when the answers given were not to the owner's satisfaction. Words like "you are actually trying to take the ----" "trying to rub our noses in it" "think we are effing stupid".
One thing is for sure. The pub never got broken into ever again...and the petty thief had wire in his jaw for a short time afterwards. He was allowed back in after about a year...so no hard feelings and not a policeman in sight nor an insurance claim ever made.
I also witnessed a chippy in London manage to go from the 1st floor of the building we were working on right down to the road outside where a car had come up and the occupants were getting to work trying to open his van with views of removing items lol. The chippy was a proper nutter lol. He got down there in seconds. They ran back into their car and proceeded to try to get away...the guy took his claw hammer out and started to decorate the windows of the car. The car then shot off down the street but it was a dead end. it was like a bloody gunfight with mad chippy standing in the middle of the road and some pretty sorry-looking thieves spinning the car round to go head on. They drove straight at him but he eventually jumped out the way whilst managing to get one final shot off in the form of embedding his hammer in their windscreen. All quite entertaining but tbh it could have ended really badly for the chippy they would have run him over and killing him probably would have seemed an option for them.

littlespark said:

I don’t think a lump hammer to the hands make any difference.

I’ve smashed my thumb on a vast number of occasions with a big hammer while chasing walls… and it still works… mostly.

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Works for now but you may suffer in later life.
I find that my some of fingers seized up after using a screwdriver for a long time.
Hence why I love the Bosch 2go the newer one is a pain with the button on the top as you tend to hit it at the wrong time, but the mechanical clutch is better than the older one.
Just saying

Since having his van broken into 3 weeks ago and all his tools nicked, old Delroy hasn't posted any vlogs on YouTube

I am rather worried about the old fella, hope he is alright

He will bounce back, probably waiting for the insurance to pay out.

#1045 above...
Must have been Wishaw...

Hopefully he's done the homeowners of London a favour and jacked it in.