Tent Safety

[Ave]

I'm a first time Glasto goer and I have a question about how safe it is leaving personal belongings in tents. Obviously, I'm not daft and I'm not planning on leaving money, expensive items etc. But what about a change of clothing? Even the bed and sleeping bag? It would seem a right drag having to lug them to and from the lock ups twice a day. Or would it be worth it?

I know these are extremely silly questions, but if you don't ask, you don't know!

[dartmoordog]

You should be fine. Tens of thousands of other people are.

Don't leave valuables that you can't afford to leave in your tent (Wallet/Purse, Car Keys, Phone, Camera etc.)

Top tip is to leave your tent as a complete mess. Unpack everything and scatter it. What thieves are looking for is a back pack to pick up, sling over their shoulder and depart.

Don't try to padlock your tent. That's an invite, and a waste of time as a Stanley knife is quicker than unzipping.

Have a great festival!

[grumpyhack]

Anything valuable either carry with you or leave in the lockups, which are around the site.

[pie_and_a_pint]

You are highly, HIGHLY unlikely to get anything stolen from inside your tent - your clothes and sleeping bag are certainly not at risk. However, you can minimise the risk of getting anything nicked by:

• Most importantly: use the lockups for ALL valuable items. Put your car keys and most of your money in there, and use the lockup like a 'cashpoint' to take your daily stash of spends out - this also stops you spending it all on day one! The lockups will look after pretty much anything (including trolleys, bikes, guitars...) In a wet year, if you have any doubts about your tent's waterproofing, you might want to leave a change of clothes in the lockups too, just in case.
• If you're taking a posh camera or phone, put it in the lockup at night. If you can't or won't do this, when you go to bed, make sure your phone, wallet etc. are in your sleeping bag, and/or about your person (chaps - think pants, ladies, think bra), NEVER in your jeans pocket, rucksack or handbag just sitting there in the tent next to you.
• Daft as it sounds, don't forget to put stuff back into your tent. Every year, people leave camping chairs, expensive wellies, crates of beer, piles of firewood, trollies etc. sitting outside in the campsite, and of course, they get taken accidentally or on purpose. Put it in your porch before you leave.
• Leave your tent a mess. Particularly leave your porch a mess. That way if anyone does come into your tent at night (which is not very likely, but every year tent theives strike, particularly on Wednesday nights as they assume - rightly in many cases - that people have wallets full of cash in their tents) they'll look at the messy pile of chairs, dirty socks, and half-eaten tins of pringles and they'll think 'fuck that' and go elsewhere.
• DO NOT padlock your tent. Repeat, DO NOT padlock your tent.
• Don't take anything you can't afford to lose. This means not just money and phones but also expensive clothes etc. As I said before it's highly, HIGHLY unlikely that anything will be stolen - tens of thousands of people get nothing stolen year on year - but do you really want mud on those £70 jeans, or a grass stain on that designer dress, or a rainstorm on your definitely-not-waterproof fancy headphones, or to drop that smartphone in a puddle?

[glasto-worker]

I'm a first time Glasto goer and I have a question about how safe it is leaving personal belongings in tents. Obviously, I'm not daft and I'm not planning on leaving money, expensive items etc. But what about a change of clothing? Even the bed and sleeping bag? It would seem a right drag having to lug them to and from the lock ups twice a day. Or would it be worth it?

I know these are extremely silly questions, but if you don't ask, you don't know!

[dondo]

I know folk have said don't padlock tent but I've often thought that once you are in your tent for the night you could clip the zips together from the inside so that someone trying your tent at night wouldn't be able to get it unzipped. Doesn't stop risk of them slashing tent but i would imagine most would be tent thieves are looking for easy ones to open

[bexj]

I don't like that idea.. Would be a nightmare to get out of in an emergency. Just don't leave valuables in your tent is the only /best way forward

[LetsGoToMars]

I've been 7 times and me or my mates have never been robbed. Someone who I used to work with, him and all his mates got robbed on ttheir first ever night there. Apparently they sliced the side of the tent and just grabbed whatever was in the side pockets. So if you leave your wallet anywhere, don't put it in there!

It really does come down to (lack of) luck

Edited May 26, 2014 by domharrison

[payneruk]

Never thought of the side pocket slash n grab. I'll be leaving them empty this year.

I usually sleep with my wallet and phone in the bottom of my sleeping bag or in my pockets whilst sleeping in my jeans.

[markrkp]

I am quite a tidy person, who likes to keep things in one place, all neat and that. However I have to go against that when camping at a festival and scatter my stuff everywhere, because opportunist thieves will want to grab a bag quickly, and are put off if everything is scattered around.

[esp]

My basic rule is to use the lock ups for anything valuable, but if you forget before you head back to sleep keep everything in your sleeping bag with you. This is particularly true if you have a handbag as if anyone breaks in whilst you're asleep it will be the first and only thing they grab ... (bitter experience but you live and learn!)

[Ave]

Thanks all for the replies. I'm not planning on leaving anything of value in the tent unattended, and will be making full use of the lockups. It was just the odds and sods, such as change of clothes, sleeping bag etc. I don't want to waste time that could be spent enjoying the festival!

[frostypaw]

No one's interested in your clothes, that stuff is fine

And seriously never secure your tent zip, bad when you're out, bad when you're in

[neilloggie]

I can't say that i have had anything stolen at a festival.

But at the end of the day it is like being anywhere, you wouldn't leave your belongings on view in your front garden, so don't do it at a festival.

At the end of the day there are no more opportunist thieves at a festival than there are anywhere else.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

At the end of the day there are no more opportunist thieves at a festival than there are anywhere else.

[stardustjunkie]

We tie our zips together at night. It's tied in a very loose double knot. Takes all of a second to undo from the inside but stops the zips being undone so easily from the outside (as our neighbour found out one morning). The thinking we had was that it would be more likely to wake us up if someone was struggling to get in to the tent.

This year I will be using the lock ups, and I don't know why I haven't in the past. Luckily I've had nothing stolen but I don't ever leave anything of value in the tent anyway, it's always on my person.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I now tie a set of bells like those below to the inside of the zip of my tent. My logic is that a tent thief will be put off by the fact that any attempt at entrance to the tent isn't as stealthy as they would have hoped due to the little bells ringing ie. they go to open the zip, the little bells ring, then they don't know if they have woken the person inside the tent. This approach doesn't come with any guarantees but for a small outlay may send a tent thief off searching elsewhere.

I have also bought a womans pull cord rape alarm which can also be fitted just like the bells. Just attach one loop to the one zip and the other end to another zip. When a thief tries to enter by unzipping the one zip they'll suddenly hear a deafening noisy screech. As will those people camping next to you. The thief will undoubtedly leg it away from your tent. I have tried this in practice and it works on a technical front. I have yet to try it at an actual festival though.

PS - if you think the rape alarm is a good approach and one that you might use yourself, then remember to remember that your tent is alarmed when you come back drunk from a night out. I'd have thought that trying to put the pin back into the main body of the alarm would be quite tricky at night when pissed. The loud screech from the unit will piss your neighbours off if you do this accidentally enough nights on the trot.

I'm not promoting the following alarm unit. I only show it to show you that it has two ends which you tie to the two zips on your tent (see below). Obviously you would need to tie the unit on the inside of the tent skin and not on show on the outside.

NOTE - you can still get yourself out of the tent in a hurry should you need to do so with either of the above options.

Edited - i forgot to post the details of one type of rape alarm. Here it is;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Personal-Anti-Attack-Anti-rape-saftey-Security-Alarm-night-/330720627954?pt=UK_Safety_Alarms&hash=item4d007c4cf2

Edited May 27, 2014 by Yoghurt on a Stick

[NeufNeuf]

You do get tent alarms:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PIR-ALARM-WIRELESS-MOTION-SENSOR-SHED-GARAGE-VANS-TRUCK-CARAVANS-BOATS-TENTS-ETC-/121304153582?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item1c3e4a7dee

I have one of these in my caravan. Of course the thief can just take the batteries out once it goes off but I'd say once this baby goes off they won't go in any further.

Downside is you do have to carry the remote with you - BUT you can hide that somewhere around your tent if need be and hope you remember that when you come to the tent less sober than when you left.

BUT even if you lose the fob or can't find your secret hideway YOU know it is only a battery operated alarm so YOU know where to grab for it and take the batteries out to silence it.

[TheParkAfterDark]

We tie 3 or 4 empty cans together on about 18 inches of string to each of our zips (on the inside). That way if someone does try to enter the rustling and clanging of the cans should hopefully put them off. NB the cans seem to make more noise when hitting together if you give them a bit of a squeeze so they lose a bit of shape.

[frostypaw]

Great ideas - apart from the rape alarm. that's not just your mates you'd be disturbing, it'd be thousands of people

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Great ideas - apart from the rape alarm. that's not just your mates you'd be disturbing, it'd be thousands of people

[Staff_Sav]

We tie 3 or 4 empty cans together on about 18 inches of string to each of our zips (on the inside). That way if someone does try to enter the rustling and clanging of the cans should hopefully put them off. NB the cans seem to make more noise when hitting together if you give them a bit of a squeeze so they lose a bit of shape.

[Stokesy10]

Does anyone know if you can get zips put onto the pockets of coats? I know that might be a stupid question as I'm sure it's possible, I've just not come across anywhere which does it!

[pentura]

I tend to use the lock-ups for all valuables (passport, travelling tickets, keys etc) and I even put most of my money in there and take out what I'd need for that day or two so I treat it like a bank. It means more trips to the lock-ups sure, but better safe than sorry!

As for the bits inside the tent, I just stuff some clothes or a jumper inside my sleeping bag cover / case and then put all my other little valuables right in the middle - phone, wallet, ticket etc. A handy 2 in 1 pillow and secure hiding place

Having said that, never had any potential thieves or any trouble whatsoever in the years I've gone

[gerardfenton18]

I tend to use the lock-ups for all valuables (passport, travelling tickets, keys etc) and I even put most of my money in there and take out what I'd need for that day or two so I treat it like a bank. It means more trips to the lock-ups sure, but better safe than sorry!

As for the bits inside the tent, I just stuff some clothes or a jumper inside my sleeping bag cover / case and then put all my other little valuables right in the middle - phone, wallet, ticket etc. A handy 2 in 1 pillow and secure hiding place

Having said that, never had any potential thieves or any trouble whatsoever in the years I've gone