Just got a fright.......

Further to my post a couple of days ago. We had a knock on the door the other night and our neighbour and one from across the road had seen someone acting suspiciously at our neighbour the other side house.
They had gone away for Christmas and not left any lights on and all the Christmas lights were switched off of course, so this person put two and two together. Luckily he was scared off. We told our neighbours when they came home and have now purchased some time switches to go on and off.
I do think an alarm would be better though.

My back door which is a patio door is kept locked with key on a shelf easily accessible to me but not to a burgular. The front door is not locked when I'm in but door is locked for anyone outside but not me inside. I keep the key nearby in the hall. I always lock it when I go to bed and all doors and windows are locked when I go out. I also have a bolt and padlock on the side gate leading to the back garden. My insurance policy says I should keep my doors and windows locked when I'm out of the house otherwise it's invalidated.

Living on my own, I keep my doors locked all the time, and when my OH was alive we had an intruder, I was upstairs, he was in the garden. I now have a security gate on the back door and make sure the front door porch is secure, too. Come to that, windows are kept locked.

Ha we live in a London suburb. A year or two back we had about 5 break-ins down our road. They broke in the back and just stole jewellery.

We had a break-in in our garage twice which is at the end of our garden and they stole 3 bikes, didn't like the look of one of them and tossed that in the alley.

We decided after the spate of break-ins to fit an alarm. We are meticulous about switching it on of a night when we go to bed and when we leave the house.

We have always locked the back door or an evening and the front door when we go to bed.

We too live in a small "safe" village and have left patio doors open when going out. I also like the front door to be unlocked...but we returned home from holiday in the summer having left the house secure to find we had been burgled via smashing through conservatory and patio doors. Car, jewellery, computer all gone. Insurance company wanted evidence of forced entry before they would accept our claim. Doors are now kept locked. Do check your policies.

We too live in a safe village, but I think none of us should be complacent. I lock all doors before going to bed, and while at home we have front door locked. Front door is solid wood and key is kept near it. However, when at home, the back door is always unlocked until we go out/go to bed as dog potters in and out.

DH used to work shifts. He was in bed one day whilst I was out shopping. Both doors locked, locks on double glazed windows all secured.

Burglar got in by removing one of the double glazed panels from the back door !

Our front door can only be opened from outside with a key and has a security chain. The back door which has a six foot wall and gate protecting it from the road is always ajar when someone is in as the stupid cat is scared of the cat flap. I do shut it and turn the key if I'm going upstairs.

I am very security conscious, living in an area with a high rate of burglaries and having been burgled myself once in the middle of the night. The DC were in their teens then and we were robbed during a dreadful storm by thieves who simply levered out the patio door. I now have a burglar alarm which I set at night before going to bed and I keep all doors locked when in the house.

A point worth thinking about is that to claim on your insurance you have to show evidence that entry into your property was forced. Thus, if you are burgled and have left your door open, you would not be able to claim.

That's pretty much like our village Soutra. I think we only had one crime last year which was something very small. We are so lucky to live where we do, it's very reassuring. We do lock the doors if we go out or at bedtime but often find we've missed the patio door!

We always used to keep a spare key in our freezer in the (unlocked) garage and one year we returned from Burghley Horse Trials to find a polite thank you note in the kitchen from one of DD2's friends thanking me for letting her stay in our house until her parents picked her up from her shift at the local pub. Next time I saw her I just asked whether she had got the key from the garage. "No need" she said " the back door was open"(!) "You mean unlocked?" I asked. " No, wide open" she replied.

Good thing our village is fairly law-abiding!

We really should not leave outside doors unlocked even when we ar in eth house. We normally lock the front and back doors when we are in the house.

It is so easy for someone to just try your front door and walk in to see what could be grabbed in passing. A lot of burglaries happen like that.

We keep a key handy by the front door and that is not visible or accessible from the letter box, and our back door key is in a nearby drawer. I suppose we should also have one for the Patio door so it is available for use as an emergency exit as well.

When I stayed with my pen-pal in S. Africa there was what she called a 'rape gate' at the top of the stairs. This was a padlocked metal gate which was meant to keep everyone safe. The one and only key was kept in my friend's bedroom. As there was also metal bars on the windows I thought I had more chance against a rapist than a fire.

As for me my back door is usually open when I am around and occasionally all night if I forget to lock it. When I broke my leg I put a notice on the front door (always locked) inviting all callers to the back door and just to shout and walk straight in. Everyone did including the postman.

After saying that I too would have been a wee bit scared if I heard what katek did.

I don't lock doors until bedtime. I have nothing a burglar would want and have two effective anti-theft deterrents - gravel paths and noisy dogs.

Our front door is shut but not locked during the day but I lock my back door even though I am in the house, I also do keep the window locks on unless the window is actually open..

Thanks Lona sensible advice. As you would expect with someone as danger conscious as DH he has drilled me in what to do in case of fire both up and downstairs !!

I don't want to paint my DH in a bad light because he just is meticulous about safety and life in general, but he is a very kind man.

You should see him parking (and reparking and reparking) the car. but that's another story.

We never lock our doors when we are at home.

I would not be happy about locked doors and inaccessible keys - I would be more worried about fire danger than burglars.

Our front door can only be opened from outside if you have a key. If the door is shut, no-one can enter but we can just open the door and walk out.

Our back door can only be accessed by a narrow side entrance, which is always bolted and usually padlocked as well or through our neighbours gardens and over a 6 foot fence, nevertheless, when I come in from the garden I always turn the key in the lock.

We live in a low crime area but it would never occur to me to leave the front door on the latch so that anyone trying the door could walk in.

I think my insurer would refuse to pay out if a crime was committed by someone walking in through an unlocked door. Perhaps Gransnetters who leave their front doors accessible at all times should check the small print on their insurance policies. They may get a nasty surprise.

You used to leave your front door unlocked all night, Eloethan? Anyone could have come in, not just a burglar...

When a policewoman told me (after a spate of burglaries in our neighbourhood) that I should lock our front door before I go to bed, I told her I'd rather be burgled than burnt to death. However, after our dog saw off someone who opened our front door in the early hours of the morning, I had a re-think and we now lock it and keep the key handy (but not handy enough for a burglar to reach it).

I don't lock our doors during the day though. I don't want to sound complacent about it though because that's tempting fate.

The world is full of opportunist thieves who will walk in while the family is e.g. gathered round the television or singing carols unless doors are secure. In the typical Gransnet Towers it may be a long way from the drawing room to the kitchen door. No need for keys to be inaccessible to the occupants, though.

NanKateYou should remind your dh that if there was a fire and the keys were upstairs, you could be in trouble.

My doors are always locked when I'm at home too.

My DH locks all the doors even during the day and then he has the temerity to put the keys upstairs so that no burglar can nip in and get them. Sometimes if the front door bell goes I have to trek upstairs to find the keys.

I must add with have a walled garden with a strong wooden gate which is also locked day and night.

It's like bl**dy Fort Knox here.

I must be very trusting because I don't lock my doors when I am in the house, even when I'm by myself. Even so it is bad form for a courier service just to lob parcels down your hall, I think I would complain to the company.

No Tanith, there's no need to where we live in terms of crime. We're very fortunate, I know, but after this afternoon I may rethink what I'm doing with the door!

I did mean shut not locked