Cheap Workshop - Steel Buildings

[Marmite!!]

I know of a farmer who was losing stuff from his shed so he rigged a shotgun to fire when the door was opened. He arrived one morning to find an attemped break in and a hole blown in the side of the shed, but had no further trouble after that. I'm not sure of the legalities of this procedure though........

Highly illegal... that's the sort of idiot that should even have a shotgun license..

 

What you can use legally is http://www.henrykrank.com/alarm_mine.html but only with blanks.. they can usually be picked up at militaria fairs for about £10 & use short shotgun blanks which cost about 30p each.

[ruxy]

Or a normal intruder alarm and devices called "SOUND BOMBS" !!!

[daz76]

HIGHLY illegal, obviously, and I certainly wouldn't advocate it. But it just shows you the lengths some people are prepared to go to. This was around the time that Cambs farmer Tony Martin became a publicised name after the shootings during a robbery on his farm. Sad thing is that the police were either too overworked or disinterested to do anything about the case I brought up. You have to wonder how many times you can put up with losing your tools and equipment from isolated barns before things get silly..:-( Not worth going to prison for in my opinion.

[Sean N]

Even if its only used for private storage/workshop? Surely as long as its not used for commercial gain I don't see how they can charge business rates... you're bound to the type of use granted by planning permission, otherwise they tell you to pull it down which I'd have thought would be incentive enough to only use it for what you've got permission for.

 

James

 

'Fraid not. Planning permission doesn't relate to rates, and they can charge because the legislation (as modified by case law) allows them to - it's non-domestic rate, not business rate. The only ways around it that I know of are to have the building within the curtilage of a domestic building, or to set up a charity.