Locksmithing and Security

The bad news is that the internet showed everyone and their aunt how to open your traditional locks.

The other bad news is that an unbelievably idiotic cylinder design became a European standard (the “Euro” profile cylinder).

The good news is that lock manufacturers have been spurred into creating some truly fearsome high-security locks, dealing with lock pickers and earlier idiotic lock designers.

The bad news is that it won’t be any good calling a locksmith to get you in if you’ve lost your keys to one of the next generation of locks. So if you do fit high-security locks give a spare key to a good friend who never goes out and never goes on holiday.

I attended a lost key lockout this morning where the door had two high security locks — unpickable and very expensive to destroy. And there were spare keys waiting inside.

It was a ground floor flat so I asked if there was access to the back door. No. We could try to raise a neighbour but there were high fences with a trellises between the properties. Anyway I’m not up for climbing fences today.

Ah, but the top flat are having an attic room added, the builders are there right now and there’s a ladder all the way (three stories) down to the back yard.

Neighbour and neighbour’s builders were happy for us to troop up and climb down. I wasn’t quite so happy as it was a very long ladder.

The back door was locked with a double euro profile cylinder and the keys were in the inside half of the cylinder and they were turned. So it took two bits of jiggery-pokery before I could start picking the lock. But eventually we were in.

Morals:

• Plan what you’re going to do if you lose keys to a high security lock. Have you got a friend who can hold a copy? Do you have the fitter’s or manufacturer’s telephone numbers?
• Leaving keys turned in the inside half of a double euro profile cylinder makes it more difficult for all but the most gifted locksmith (ahem) or burglar. (Euro profile cylinders are those upside-down exclamation mark shaped cylinders that go right through the door.)
• By contrast, leaving keys on the inside of a mortice lock, turned or not, makes it very easy for the thief. Don’t ever do it.

Are you the kind of person who likes to be prepared and who doesn’t like surprises and emergencies? Then you might like to check what locks are fitted to your front door. And if it turns out to be exotic or high security, you might want to recall or discover who fitted it or manufactured it. Then if, heaven forbid, you find you’ve been locked out one day — actually it’s never day it’s always night and a cold, wet and windy one at that — you’ll have a start on who might be able to get you back inside again. You might also want to ensure that a trusted friend who never takes holidays has a spare key.

If you have a Chubb, Yale, Union, ERA, Legge, Securefast, Walsall, Willenhall or Imperial, for example, then you have a regular lock. If you have a Banham, a MulTlock, a Gerda, a Bramah, for example, then you have a high-security or exotic lock. (If you have a Bramah lock you are in good and ancient company. Mr Pickwick had a Bramah.)

The local authority here has been fitting front doors with an imported lock system that would do the front door of a desirable castle proud: a lock that’s completely unique driving huge medieval bolts. However, lock yourself out and try calling said local authority and you will be told to call a locksmith. Call a locksmith and you will be told that they have no idea how to get you in.

If you have a local authority front door with a completely circular keyhole right in the middle of the door and some impressive boltwork on the inside, contact your local authority and get a definitive answer on how you a) get a spare key, and b) gain entry should you ever find yourself locked out.

If you’re not sure, and you’re living in the UK, leave a comment and I’ll venture an opinion on your lock’s surprise-quotient.