Safety Deposit Boxes – Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited

There’s been a lot in the news this week, some of which was quite exciting! The thought of the UK sitting on over 150 million barrels of oil can only benefit our economy, a number of exciting bits and bobs floating out of the political parties, creating some interesting conversations within All About Safes – however there was one news item that caught our attention and has remained at the forefront of our conversations all week.

Seeing the news on Tuesday morning that Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited had been broken into immediately got our attention. Firstly our thoughts are with those individuals that lost irreplaceable and sentimental items and businesses that have had their goods stolen and trust affected.

We’ve had several conversations with people who are unfortunately victims of theft from either their homes or businesses and are familiar with the feelings that victims experience. From us all at All About Safes we hope that all those affected are offered a resolution and information as soon as possible. Following the story on the BBC website we have heard that most customers are still unaware whether or not their deposit boxes and valuables were taken as the police are focusing on gathering evidence in an attempt to catch the thieves.

With the ongoing reports stating that the value of the heist could touch £200 million (some believe that this figure has been overestimated) could mean that the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited heist could be the biggest jewellery raid in history. Check out our blog post showing the Top Ten Biggest Heists in the UK.

Although likely to be one of the biggest heists, it has caused a lot of surprise to industry experts about how lo-tech this heist was. Abseiling down a lift shaft and drilling through the wall to the side of the vault door does take an element of skills; however these thieves knew that they had time on their side as they would’ve drilled for three days, causing speculation over how much insider knowledge the thieves had.

We’ve been talking to a lot of people recently about safety deposit boxes. A number of customers have had their safety deposit box function removed from their high street banks resulting in them enquiring about the variations of safes suitable for the home. As well as customers being on the receiving end of the removal of safety deposit boxes we have also spoken to a number of people who are looking at setting up their own safety deposit box centres.

Thanks to our unique business setup we are able to offer safety deposit box centres, vaults and strong rooms through our parent company BDB Lock and Safe. If you’re looking at providing a safety deposit service BDB Lock and Safe can easily provide quotes and information on this if required.

Alternatively if you’re a customer of a safety deposit box that has lost the function of storing your valuables in a centre like the one seen at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Lockers and are seeking some alternatives we covered this topic in a previous post, “safe deposit boxes – what are the alternatives?” that may be of some interest to you.

A conversation that took place earlier today at All About Safes was, “has the security of safety deposit boxes been brought into jeopardy?” Tony Ryan, Head Safe Engineer said, “Absolutely not!” Tony went on to mention that the security of safety deposit centres are very high and in fact the vault door used in Hatton Garden resembles those used in the Bank of England. Most safety deposit boxes will have seismic sensors within the walls, ceilings and floors of the vault room, triggering an alarm if disruption is caused to the wall. Head Safe Engineer and award winning locksmith, Tony Ryan, believes that to pick a lock on a vault door like that would take at least 36 hours to pick, without the skills to pick the lock, the only way in would’ve been through the walls.

Apparently a new state of the art alarm system had been installed into the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited but was yet to be turned on. Tie this into the fact that at the time of the break in most people were celebrating Easter or the Jewish holiday of Passover, resulting in nearly all of the shops being closed. Both of these points have led to further speculation over the fact that this has been an inside job.

We genuinely hope that the case is resolved with minimal disruption to all those involved as soon as possible.

If you are currently are in use of a safety deposit box and you wish to discuss the alternatives for you feel free to contact us for help. We can talk you through what is available on the market and ensure that you’re given specific information relating to your personal circumstance.