Our friend and colleague Hannah Darling from Darling Angels recently invited us to attend the National Landlords Association when they met at Epiphany House in Truro. We were asked to give a talk to the members gathered on a subject of our own choosing.
Because we deal with landlords, tenants and agents on a daily basis and therefore often see the poor locks and security fitted to properties, many of which do not comply with current insurance standards, we decided that we would talk on this subject but also to have some locks of various types and grade on show. It is not always a reluctance to spend money on upgrading security but often a lack of knowledge that results in poor locks fitted to properties so we felt this would be an excellent opportunity to educate our potential future clients and if they do not come to us, at least we have helped to increase awareness.
Our talk lasted for approximately 30 minutes and started with an introduction about Owl Locksmiths and Security. It was followed by some basic facts based not on national or government figures but just on the amount of jobs undertaken where the cause was due to a criminal act, where burglary, vandalism or some other reason. We also explained the way in which insurance companies look at intruder deterrents which includes burglary alarms and the pit falls should the policy holder fail to ensure locks of quality are fitted.
Sharon then gave a demonstration of snapping a Euro cylinder and the reasons why this method is used when possible for illegal entry. We then moved on to show our audience various standards of locks from the basic traditional nightlatch (commonly known as Yale lock) and then compared this to a quality British Standard nightlatch, we did this for Mortice Locks and euro cylinders and finished off with complete multipoint locking mechanisms.
By the end of the talk, our audience where aware of what should be fitted to various doors and the reasons why. During the following break, a number of people came up to inspect the locks up close and asked some very good questions. We in turn thoroughly enjoyed the evening so thank you again Hannah.