Garden sheds 'must be secured while away on holiday'

13:06:20 24th June 2010

July and August represent the peak times for burglaries of garden sheds and homeowners must make sure they take adequate steps to protect the contents of theirs.

Analysis of ten year's worth of data from Aviva shows that thieves begin targeting items outside the main home when the evenings begin to get lighter in March and reach their highest level during July and August.

The company claims it is crucial that homeowners are sensible and lock items such as tools, toys and ornaments in a garden shed to prevent losing them to criminals.

"It's easy to forget that garden tools, expensive children's toys, bikes and lawnmowers all make rich pickings for opportunist thieves too, so make sure they are also locked away and out of sight before you head to the airport," Jonathan Cracknell, household underwriter at Aviva, said.

Owen Jones, writing for gather.com, recently warned homeowners to lock their garden sheds especially if they contain items which a burglar could use to enter the house, such as ladders or a crow bar.

Find out more information about garden sheds