Posted on 02/03/2025 5:25:20 AM PST by RandFan
A Kent roofer who had £3,000 ($3.6k) worth of tools stolen in the time it took to buy a coffee is backing calls for tougher penalties for thieves.
Dennis Richardson, from Maidstone, said: "We were out of sight for a couple of minutes at a coffee shop.
"I've got a family, and we've got to eat, we've got to pay bills. To suddenly have to find £3,000 ($3.6k) is not easy," he said.
The government said it would continue to work with the police "to explore ways to tackle tool theft, ensure justice for victims, and punish criminals".
A bill is going through Parliament, tabled by a Hampshire MP, which seeks to impose harsher sentencing for tool thieves.
Mr Richardson, who works across the South East, and whose van was targeted in Dulwich, south-east London, said: "I would say they had followed me down that road.
"Every single power tool had been stolen."
He said: "I stay away from certain areas of London now. It's restricted the jobs I want to take."
He joined a rally in Parliament Square on Monday, where campaigners demanded greater enforcement.
Paul Saunderson-Barker, a plumber from Sussex, who also attended the rally, said he was left "devastated" after his van was broken into.
He told the BBC: "They stole power tools and a thermal imaging camera. I had over £6,000 ($7.2k) of equipment stolen."
He said: "Other self employed traders locally have rallied around to help me."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Our diversity is our strength.
You will own nothing.
You will be happy.
You just won’t be able to fix anybody’s roof.
Yes isn’t it wonderful 🙄🙄
You would think with all the CCTV now they would catch these thieves but I doubt they even have the manpower
If your going to have a muslim country, maybe you need muslim laws.
The just steal the tools at the source in the US. Lowes, Home Depot, etc. No reason to bother with used tools, they just go help themselves to brand new tools that also, never get used by those stealing them. Pawn Shop bound! Best I can do on this is $5.
I thought it said ‘transpeople demand fix for tool theft’.
Great point. London has more CCTV surveillance than perhaps any large city on the planet.
It’s called “diversity”, not “theft”. It’s social economic justice in action. This guy should be arrested for racism.
Of course, if the cameras were recording “people of color”, apprehending them would be considered racist and could not be done. We know this because that’s how the grooming (i.e. child rape) gangs were treated, and tool theft is much less egregious.
“If your going to have a muslim country, maybe you need muslim laws.”
They have Sharia courts for the faithful in GB but not for the infidels. It’s OK to steal from infidels.
"Anyone seen Skizzy?"
"Last I heard he was going to Brixton to pinch some tools."
"and since?"
"Nothing. No one's seen him."
I knew a contractor in Baltimore who got so sick of his good tools getting ripped off switched to all Harbor Freight tools. They still do the job and are cheaper to replace when they get stolen.
Yes of course
The police are in a difficult spot. There are assaults and murders to solve so it’s about priorities for them
Maybe what we need is private policing (again). That’s how policing started in times gone by.
How about addressing seriously theft of anything from anyone?
I don’t see special carveouts as especially just.
Now consider why you don’t see many pick up trucks in the UK....always ‘white vans’.
Recently the local Habitat for Humanity had a trailer full of tools stolen .
At least $5K worth of tools stolen from Habitat for Humanity truck in Norfolk, nonprofit says
My initial reaction on reading the story is that around here, those thieves would get shot by a tradesman. No RKBA in London limits that remedy.
And there is no doubt in my mind that the local police and sheriff’s department would go after such a theft. The DA would prosecute it, and people would go to prison.
My van is old and the driver side door won’t lock. I started looking for a new lock and discovered a very secure surface applied van lock. It was very expensive and actually came from Italy. It was exactly what I needed.
It turns out that the existing locks on vans can be simply overcome with a pry bar. Thieves with prybars have instant access to vans and the tools therein. Stealing tools from vans in England and Europe is easier than shoplifting in California
In London gangs on motorbikes/mopeds whizz around and steal/grab stuff like cell phones with impunity
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