Lock-snapping, a problem that has beset the industry since 2005 or even earlier, has finally been recognized on television with it’s own dedicated slot on the Inside Out program which aired in the Yorkshire region tonight.

The program highlighted the issue with all double glazed PVCu doors which currently have a standard euro-profile door cylinder. The program finally made aware the mass general public, at least in this region, that there is a serious issue and that something needs to be done about it.

One issue I did have was the mention of people using non-profit organizations. I’m sorry, but if a customer is going to have the very best door cylinder installed, a non-profit organization isn’t going to have the means to buy those sorts of door cylinders. This sort of business should be going to the locksmith and double glazing industries and to those companies who supply high quality cylinders aimed at keeping the burglars out properly. My biggest concern for people is that if they do chose to go to a NPO, they quality of cylinder isn’t going to be that great. We’ve tested loads of cylinders in our showroom, to see if they do what they say on the box, and unfortunately most don’t. These are the cheaper options and probably the ones most low cost installers will be supplying. Totally inadequate.

On one hand, the fact that this program has now highlighted tens of thousands of people of the potential dangers and the risk of lock-snapping is a good thing. But the downside is that burglars who didn’t know about the problem now do. The program didn’t exactly show the burglar how to do it, but they can now easily go find information on the internet on how to do it and go round doing it themselves before people get chance to do something about it. Like the time when a national newspaper showed people how to get into an externally glazed window. There was a big increase in that type of break-in after the publication of that article. We may see the same pattern emerge now this program has aired.

What the industry has to do now is really take advantage of people’s awareness of the issue and ram it home about the dangers of not changing their locks for something better. I had two calls this morning in which people had been made aware of this issue during the lunch-time bulletin and wanted to do something about it. Indeed, both bought plenty of new locks from us.

The positive side to all this is that there could be quite a significant boost to both the locksmith trade and the double glazing industry where companies focus in cylinder replacement. This story also puts security back into focus and in the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to security on their windows and doors.

Ultimately this is a good thing, we all just have to be ready and be proactive when it comes to people wanting to upgrade their locks before burglars take advantage of the old insecure ones!