Another Model Rail Show suffers a break in...!

[Bonnyman750]

Hi All,

as the title says, the Leamington and Warwickshire Model Rail club's event suffered a break-in during Friday night and a trader's stall was robbed of most of their new stock, not the first time for them either. This had the knock-on effect of half the exhibition being a crime scene till just after 12.30 and resulted in LWRMS having to reduce the entry price from £8 down to £5 as they had no idea if or when the area would be released by the Police...

Reading posts on FB it appears that whoever committed the crime were either local and knew the immediate area surrounding the event or it was an organised gang who had done their homework and (possibly) visited the site and cased the joint weeks long before the event.

Unfortunately some pictures and a video were posted on FB showing the events set up progress and, whether you agree with their decision or not, LWMRS put a site map and an exhibition map on their website which no doubt helped the thieves immensely.

I understand that these events need to advertise to all through any medium available but I feel now that all these Model Rail event organisers need to tread carefully and ensure that both reliable and noted security firms are engaged beforehand and that they are extremely careful in both their show promotion methods and the actions of the people taking part (FB posts etc..).

Unfortunately, these crimes will continue to happen and I'm not suggesting the RM community will stop them, but making it harder for the thieves must be priority!

If the situation gets worse, traders will stop using exhibitions in fear of them being targeted, insurance premiums will rise and the shows could all but disappear meaning another loss of something we all enjoy as the cost of putting these shows on will outweigh the viability.........

My thoughts go out to the trader in question, who was visibly upset when I spoke to him and (I know it's no recompense) I sincerely hope he gets either his stock back (and the scum prosecuted) or remuneration from the correct sources...!

Otherwise another great local show which I will continue to support...!

just my thoughts and no affiliation to either the trader or LWMRS...

Glyn

[Bonnyman750]

Posted on FB earlier.............


Officials statement

Break-in at the Model Railway Exhibition at Leamington Spa. Friday 6th / Saturday 7th March 2020.

The opening of the Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society exhibition was delayed on Saturday morning as the result of a break in at the exhibition centre where the event was being staged. Intruders cut their way through the perimeter fence before forcing an entry to a building. They made off with a considerable amount of new model railway stock belonging to one of the trade stands attending the exhibition. The stolen items were loaded into building material cube bags and a larger section of the perimeter fence was then cut away to enable the bags to be dragged away to a parked vehicle on a remote track running between the grounds of the venue and the river the police believe. The raid was almost certainly pre-planned and well executed by an organised crime group from outside of the area. (Other exhibition organisers please note).
Scenes of crime investigators attended and collected a number of items of interest left by the raiders. Police Officers are also collecting CCTV material for review from the venue and the wider local area.
The exhibition was eventually able to fully open to the public at 12:30 pm on Saturday morning and has been open as normal today, Sunday 8th March 2020 from 10:00am.
Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society club members expressed concern that there have been a number of similar incidents across the country in the recent past but are pleased to report that on this occasion the intruders have not touched any of the models on display and no further damaged was (reported?....word missing from FB post).

[Skyline2uk]

Yet more bad news.

2020 may not end up being great for large gatherings of people anyway, the hobby doesn't need this threat as well.

The description is scary to be honest, targeted and clinical.

Hope police make public exactly what was taken because no doubt attempts will be made to sell on, the hobby can be vigilant for it being offered. 



Skyline2uk

[Graham]

Need to go back to the days of camping overnight in your hall if you run the exhibitions.... days of hoping a lock will keep
£100's of thousands of pounds worth of stock secure are gone....

Exactly what our club does, has one person in each room of the exhibition staying for the 3 nights.

[Pete @ EGLM]

The horrible thing is, that the stolen items will probably be bought by members of our community...because who else would be interested!

Pete @ EGLM

[Calnefoxile]

The horrible thing is, that the stolen items will probably be bought by members of our community...because who else would be interested!

Pete @ EGLM

Agreed, but how would anyone know which items are the nicked ones??

Unless traders start invisibly marking their stock with unique serial numbers, then no-one is going to know that the item they're buying on ebay is hooky or genuine.

Cheers

Neal.

[Southerngooner]

Maybe traders need to start using invisible marking of their stock, and record the fact that it has been done? Buyers would then have their stock marked for free.

[guest311]

I guess only buy from people you've bought from before, and trust.

it would also be helpful to be able to get a list of what was stolen, so any suspicious sales could be reported to plod, that's if you could get an answer.

[Bonnyman750]

Although traders/exhibitors staying overnight at the venue is a nice idea consider the scenarios that could occur.....

1, The event Insurance companies may take a dim view of private individuals present when the place is locked up and will almost certainly want a professional security firm in presence......

2, They would not probably be covered by the insurance cover given to the organiser(s) of the event anyway and to cover them for those type of actions would probably be either non-existent or prohibitively expensive...

3, the Insurance company, the Police and the local Fire and Rescue may be against such actions, i.e. people being (effectively) locked in a building overnight...

4, should the event Organisers, Insurance et al. agree to such actions and a similar event occurs just think of the possible consequences...

if the thieves do break in and are a local couple of hoods, any attempts at (citizens) arresting them could lead to the arresters being counter-sued for assault by their parents etc...You know what Mr. and Mrs. Tracksuit are like.!

However, if, as it is assumed on this occasion, it is a well organised gang who don't take prisoners there is a really good chance that our Guardian Angels may get more than they bargained for (A&E or even worse)...


So, although I do agree that more preventative measures should be taken prior to and during these events, I am a little concerned that well minded people may get hurt either financially (court, sued etc) or even hospitalised and nobody wants that...

I think that it is time that the event organisers think more tactically about their shows and engage the local emergency services a bit more than normal. With all our modern technology being implemented on our layouts, traders and exhibitors alike could utilise their own level of CCTV in and around the stalls and layouts. Lets face it, there are numerous people exhibiting layouts that use micro cameras to record a journey around their layouts, sometimes even displaying it on a screen during the event to add another dimension to the punters, why not extend this to the overall layout when unattended. This also may deter people from lifting stock during the events too and how many times has it been reported that that has happened......

Also, has anyone thought that there may be representatives from our Emergency Services from our local shows who are into MR and might like to attend the show on both an MR and professional basis (Fire, Police and Ambulance colleagues layouts)...?
Or, asking that the local Emergency Services actually attend these shows with their own displays of what they do in the community as they tend to do at some of the motorcycle shows that I have attended...Their presence may deter the less enthusiastic of tea-leaves....

Again, just my own thoughts....

Glyn

[Bob Tidbury]

Years ago The High Wycombe club held their exhibition at the Wycombe college and I took my caravan down  and we had permission to park it outside the halls front door as there was another part of the building that was unlocked all night for student access .me and a mate took it it in turns to have a look round and check doors and windows at random times throughout the night .
Perhaps that sort of thing could be a possibility at some venues .
Bob Tidbury

[ntpntpntp]

@Bonnyman750  Yes Glyn   I was going to make the same points: it's all very well saying get club bods to stay overnight in the hall, but the venue and/or insurance company covering the event are very likely not to sanction anything other than a 3rd party professional security service being engaged.

[davidinyork]

Surely a professional security guard overnight on each night is the only sensible answer.

It's not sensible to have members of a model railway club, many of whom will be elderly, doing this themselves and risking getting thumped if there is a break-in.

[leachsprite4]

You have to take each venue and event on its own needs. Securing this venue must be a nightmare as there are multiple building entrances and sort of separate isolated buildings. It would take numerous people to be present and the way it is suggested they got in on Riverside walk has multiple off street access points as well as one gated which if the padlock fell off a car could access. However what surprised me (from the statement) is that it was spotted till the morning which suggests the building isn't alarmed.

Although my nearest show ironically I don't go as I don't like the venue and the multiple rooms over several floors.

[Bonnyman750]

Precisely...!

From your post I assume that you have looked at the venue on Google Earth/maps and have surveyed the scene for yourself. This is what I mean about the event's organisers and their choice of security being more tactical in their approach to security and should be using all the mediums available to them to discuss the security of their event and look at the whole scenario as if they were actually going to do the robbery themselves. Even down to walking the patch with their preferred security firm representatives and the local police...i.e. playing the thieves at their own game. This would allow them to (possibly) site the traders stands in positions which would make it more difficult for potential thieves to lift stock and transport it away, even if they did manage to break in and also give the owners of the site a better idea of their own security...!

These individuals are, by all accounts well organised and will not think twice about other venues, so future events need to use whatever means available to them to deter these individuals. We all know that stock has been lifted from stalls and layouts at major events, with more than adequate security in constant presence, even during the day's events so we are not going to stop it wholesale but as I said earlier, we all embrace modern technology in/on our layouts...maybe we need to expand this to secure them and the hobby's future....!

Glyn

[leachsprite4]

No need to Google earth the site. I drive past the site 10 times a week and have done for getting on for 20 years, I also spent a few years at the venue as a student before this and during the last 20 years.

But yes it's exactly this type of planning which although time consuming can save a lot of problems.