Home-owners worried that burglars were marking homes as potential targets with “24/7 Locksmith” stickers were today told not to call police amid growing evidence that many are adverts for genuine businesses.
Scotland Yard issued the notice after receiving “a substantial number of calls” from people concerned that their homes had been singled out with the transparent plastic stickers on their front doors.
Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy was among those co-ordinating a campaign on Twitter following warnings from police and council chiefs that the stickers may be being used by thieves as markers on vulnerable properties.
But a locksmith told the Evening Standard the transparent stickers had been used for more than 25 years to give residents who have been locked out a handy number to call.
Sam Edaan, who has worked as a locksmith in Cricklewood for 15 years, uses the stickers to advertise his phone number on houses across north, west and south-west London. He said he had been forced to take the day off work after receiving more than 500 calls in 24 hours since the reports emerged asking if he was a legitimate business.
He said: “I know of at least five other companies who use the stickers all over London, so it wouldn’t be a very good way of singling out particular properties. The stickers are made by printing companies to fit onto people’s intercoms, so if they get locked out there’s a number right there to call.
“I’ve been using them for the past six years and some companies have been using them for much longer. This is how we get work.” The reports emerged after a sticker with a non-working phone number was found on the front door of a house that had been burgled in Wandsworth. The local council’s crime prevention spokesman, councillor Jonathan Cook warned: “There is growing evidence that some organised teams of burglars may be using this method to target homes in south London.”
A Met spokesman said: “We are only aware of one burglary, in Wandsworth, at a property that has a sticker. However, we cannot confirm the property was burgled because it had a sticker.”
