[Nottingham] Gas meter theft (was: ZoneMinder and camera security)

[Jason Irwin]

On 13/12/11 10:24, kurtisbrown2 at sky.com wrote:
> Completey off topic but any idea why they have been trying to steal ur gas meter?
They steal a meter, swap it for their meter, use gas, then swap their
meter back.  The result is it looks like they have used less gas/they
don't need to buy pre-pay cards.

Meter theft increases in winter, unfortunately there is no easy way to
secure them as TransCo will want immediate access in the event of an
emergency.  One can buy anti-tamper clips, but these are simple plastic
jobs and only server to indicate tampering; which is pretty obvious when
the meter is missing!

TransCo will respond almost immediately to make the meter safe due to
the threat of explosion, the police aren't so fast and the chance of any
forensic evidence is lost (meter theft is a low priority, I get that).
The gas company won't lift a finger without a crime number, which can
take a while to get and even once one has it, one may have to wait up to
five more days for reconnection (this isn't even done by the supplier,
it's done by TransCo).  An incident number is not enough.

One solution would be to have a pre-pay meter but these are blasted
expensive and are also stolen if they have high-credit.  Smart meters
may be a solution to this (report it stolen, it refuses to work) but
they bring their own problems.

I did consider a booby-trap with something like a rape alarm, but I
don't think I want a spark-source in the cabinet with the meter for
obvious reasons.  So security lights is the first step, cheaper and
easier than having the meter moved inside.

-- 
Jason Irwin