Attention UPVC door owners / euro cylinder lock vulnerabilities.

I found this out the hard way so please take heed. Many of the locks fitted to uPVC doors are easily and silently compromised. It's relatively quick and easy to change them to 'snap safe' or 'break safe' locks that when forced break without exposing the latch in the centre of the mechanism.

See http://upvcsecurity.co.uk/

From West Yorks police (and echoed by many other forces) "We have received reports of two burglaries this week where Europrofile locks have been forced and entry gained. Please note – there is a weakness in these type of locks and we strongly recommend changing them to a 'Snap Safe' or 'Break Safe' style. Typically, a new lock costs around £30 or £40 but they are quick and easy to fit and prevent this type of break in. If you require further advice about your locks, please contact your Crime Reduction Officers."

Other options include armoured door plates – see http://airedalesecurityproducts.co.uk/shop/page/6?shop_param= which essentially provide a similar level of security by making the lock inaccessible.

Also look out for anti-bump cylinders whilst you're at it – http://www.antibump.co.uk/bumping.php.

So if you do what I've done (too late but I had to replace the destroyed lock and handle anyway) you want a snap-safe, anti-bump cylinder with an armoured handle. That way the crims will look elsewhere.

Thanks for reading.

I may be one of those that WY Police were talking about – I've just been done, about 2 weeks ago. burglars wrecked the outer handle of my conservatory & snapped the euro latch as easy as you like.

They got a 19in flat screen TV. Which doesn't work 😈

I spent a chunk of today replacing the euro locks and handles with the very same things you describe. Take out the trip to the locksmiths (C H Wood in Bradford – very good BTW) & I doubt it took me more than an hour or so

Why bother? a bottle of meths and a lighter and you can have a hole in a UPVC door in a minute….

Seen this floating around in email form and forum postings over the years.

Why bother? a bottle of meths and a lighter and you can have a hole in a UPVC door in a minute.

Brick window interface.

Why bother? a bottle of meths and a lighter and you can have a hole in a UPVC door in a minute….

Because crims don't want to get caught. And if they're after your car they want a silent in and out so that they can take their time changing plates and getting the cars to a 'safe place'.

Luckily I don't live in a Northern crime hell-hole 😉

Well thanks for bringing that to a wider audience, just as the dark nights arrive, why not mention that euro profile locks are also fitted to ………………………………………………………………………………………….as well.

Muppet.

we have old fashioned door locks…why r they not used as much anymore? are they not safe? or are they more expensive?

Traditional locks don't fit too well in PVCu conservatory doors

wow. So those videos I see of the police trying to break someone's Upvc door in with a swinging ram are all fake? I mean, if the doors are so easy to get into, why hammer away for 3 minutes with a dirty great lump of iron when you can just snap the lock? Has anyone told the police they're this easy?

Yup Samuri never seen one yet given in yet with those rams normally they start to disintegrate in areas and the locks stay put. So a window out and we're in, no one takes any notice either when they hear smashed glass.

We get courses on breaking in and in the event of an alarm operating but no immediate sign of fire we try to cause as little damage as possible. If you know what you're doing you can be in, in no time at all.
That said, I've not changed any of my locks.

project- "Well thanks for bringing that to a wider audience, just as the dark nights arrive"

That's the spirit, if you don't know about it it can't hurt you, right? Course, there's no chance that professional thieves already know this stuff.

I'll make you a 3" oak door,plus surround
Fire brigade wouldnt get through.
Not necessarily a good thing 😆

scuttler, do you work for any business connected to door locks or door security?

scuttler, do you work for any business connected to door locks or door security?

Absolutely not. Like most people on here I work in IT. I'm a victim of crime down two cars and a few hundred quids worth of other stuff. Would happily post pictures of the damaged locks and the empty driveway 🙁

My only concern here is that I like EVERYONE else I've spoken to, was totally ignorant to this kind of thing. The door is only 3 years old and makes a resounding clunk as all the bolts and latches close against the frame – false sense of security as it's the lock that's weak. Talking to CID it's increasingly common and soooo easy to do and relatively cheap to protect against.

And as for the clown suggesting I'm publicising it to crims you're a **** idiot with your head up your arse – they already know how to do it – it's the honest punters that need to know. The simplest way to protect your stuff is to make it hard enough that the crims go elsewhere – just like me and you they like the easylife.

The info to get into these locks has been easily googleable for a couple of years, last summer my sister in law snapped the key off in her porch door and phoned me for help. Less than 5 mins of searching how to drill the lock and it took me about 5 seconds to remove the lock.

I was shocked at how easy it was both to find out how and to actually get into the door. Luckily I'm poor and have wood doors with proper mortice locks!

Absolutely not. Like most people on here I work in IT

Excuse me I resent that!! I.T. indeed I'm a bloody engineer me! My doors are made of titanium and unobtanium so bring it on tea leaves. 😆

I think the pannels at the bottom of the door are the weakest point ( excluding window)

Just to be clear on this, the modus operandi of my 'visitors' was stealth. There may be many ways of getting into a house, and there may be many material constructions that keep people out but these types of lock appear to present a way for those in the know to quietly and quickly get into your house whilst you're out or asleep to relieve you of whatever they came for. No kicking in, smashing down or breaking glass involved which is generally what is required for wood/glass/5-lever lock construction doors.

I don't want to sound like a crime obsessed t#@t because 3 days ago I too couldn't give a toss. Since then I've learnt a lot and which ever way I look at the hows and whys of this unfortunate event nothing deflects the fact that had the lock been stronger they most definitely would have gone away empty handed. And that's why I'm letting you know.

In my line of work, I (entirely legally BTW, under the supervision of the police) gain access to properties if I feel it is necessary. This is normally done using a locksmith, or on occasions the fire brigade have done this.

The longest it has taken a locksmith has been about 6 minutes, and this was a method where no part of the door was removed or altered, no damage was done and the lock was not touched. It was a UPVC door, and you would cry if you saw the method used. Obviously, I'll not publicise it.

The quickest was on my own front door, and it was about 20 seconds for the guy to access my house entirely silently, and it made me rethink my home security. Average is about 2 minutes, and normally silent apart from the lock barrel hitting the floor…

To quote a locksmith

"A lock is only there to deter an honest man".

Scuttler, just clicked your first link, I've personally witnessed that sort of lock being negated, in a wooden door, and I was rather shocked and surprised when the locksmith explained and demonstrated how to get in. Took about 30 seconds, and virtually silent. He recommended one of the types of lock you reference.

Every front door to a block of 8 flats on the same stairwell had the same type of lock.

Same thing happened to me about two months ago in North Leeds. Snapped the shields off the (cast) handles, pulled the eurolocks out with a set of molegrips. 3 am on a Friday morning. Me, the wife and both little kids asleep upstairs. Big black labrador (soft as sh1te) downstairs.

Cleared the quick and easy stuff from the table in the back room including wallets, keys, laptop, camera, Ipod and the wife's Zafira. Had to shift my old T plate Honda to get the Vauxhall but dumped it round the corner.

Copper said the locks and handles were sh1te and pointed me in the right direction. You can get snapsafe's off the web pretty cheap. Same with the handles. Whilst there's plenty of ways to get in better to make the ones they seem to like more awkward and slower.

And as for this:

Well thanks for bringing that to a wider audience, just as the dark nights arrive, why not mention that euro profile locks are also fitted to ………………………………………………………………………………………….as well.

Muppet.

It isn't the OP that's a muppet.

I suspect the poster bandying around the word "muppet" probably sees Gonzo in his bathroom mirror most mornings.

well the perp that did ours only got into the conservatory, in which the only items of interest were a TV and a little CD/Radio. CD got left; TV was already broken…

Annoying that I've now had to spend close on £200 to replace the handle & lock that they buggered, but pleased in a way that, if caught, they're going to jail for a broken TV 😈