In June 2016 my workshop burnt down under suspicious circumstances.  The unit next door caught light late on a Sunday evening after the occupants were working in there. The fire brigade said my unit was a 100% loss. 

Later that month I had left my van outside my house overnight, in the morning when I went to go to work the van was not there. I reported the loss to the police and took my car into work. The next day the police reported to me that my van has been recovered and was in Purfleet Essex, through the Dartford tunnel from where I live. Apparently a car was seen on the cameras coming into Kent and 90 minutes later went back into Essex following 2 Mercedes sprinters, 1 which was mine. Luckily both of the vehicles were recovered, mine was deprived of all the tools, the police kept the van for nearly a month to conduct a forensic assessment.

I got a phone call to say I could collect the van, they had the keys which I knew because I had taken them over there. I got a lift over there and my van was brought out to me, to my surprise the ignition barrel was missing. How was I supposed to get the van home? Eventually I arranged a recovery lorry to take the van back to my yard at a cost of £250.00. I contacted the insurance company again and was told that they needed a full repair cost including the ignition barrel. I said how can I move the van without any ignition, their response, it is my problem. So I contacted Mercedes in Sittingbourne and got the van recovered to the garage.

3 days later I got a phone call my van was ready for collection, again I got a lift to Sittingbourne to collect my van. I had to pay the bill, £595.00. so far I am nearly a £1’000.00 out of pocket, remember I am insured fully comprehensively. 6 weeks after my van went missing I am again able to use my van. The insurance company gave me a hire van for 2 weeks, the rest of the time I had to pay for vehicle hire.

I used the van for 3 months and all the time I was thinking how could I stop this or at the least make it extremely difficult for this to happen again. Now my insurance was due for renewal, I got a quote for £2’500.00. I phoned the insurance company after I had got up from the floor. I queried the quote, their reply, because they had nobody to offset the claim my premium had been raised, so naturally I phoned around and managed to get cover for just over £2’000.00. So the theft of my van has now cost me to date, £2’100.00 or thereabouts, this is with fully comprehensive insurance.

I still had this thought of how can I make it difficult for my van to be made more secure, not by electronic means as criminals now have access to the black web and can buy computer programmes to get around electronic security. I looked at various anti-theft devices on the internet, nothing seemed that good, I wanted something easy to fit and remove but difficult to remove by thieves, with modern vehicles either the brake or clutch have to be depressed for the ignition to be engaged, bingo, stop this. So after a bit of woodwork I came up with the design for the Pedal Wedge. I fabricated them in plywood first to see if the idea would work, then I got a scrap piece of metal from a friend and made 2 sizes of Pedal wedge, 1 for the brake, the other for the clutch. The clutch lever on Mercedes is 35mm wide, not many people know that, I did not until I had made my first Pedal Wedge. I am still using my metal prototypes on my van. I have had the first batch of engineered Pedal Wedges made and I have them priced for affordability. The security of the Pedal Wedge is defined by the quality of the padlock used; I use a £70.00 Cisa padlock. Now I have security of mind that my van is always where I left it. So can you, without the expense I have endured.