Food theft

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 26 Jun 2008, 20:42

Today I've heard anecdotal evidence about people having vegetables stolen from their allotments and gardens.

Apparently in Bushbury Wolverhampton, some thieves stole a bloke's potatoes, but they stuck the stalks back in the ground so he wouldn't suspect anything!!!

He must have been gutted when he found out . . .

chubbygristle · Post by **chubbygristle** » 26 Jun 2008, 20:51

I can only imagine we are going to see more and more of this going on soon as the price of food continues to go up.

I am not saying that such thefts are price related as I have no idea about the background of it but I've been saying for ages that the 'I'm alright Jack' approach to green issues was never going to be any good in the end. You can have your "Isn't easy being Green" chaps faffing about building their green utopian ?600,000 projects but at the end of the day, if you've got the means to sustain yourself and thousands haven't been able to make such preparation you're going to have a lot of hungry mouths after your grub!

I guess this is why the community approach is needed as everyone needs to get through the times ahead regardless of the financial / education situation. Would have been lovely to have seen some money gone into filming and following the work of Transition Town Tontnes etc as opposed to Dick Strawbridges Green Gadget Show...

</rant>

Pip Tiddlepip · Post by **Pip Tiddlepip** » 26 Jun 2008, 21:31

Any thieving bugger who touches my tomatoes is going to experience Arab justice, Brightonian style, at the end of a rusty spade...

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 26 Jun 2008, 21:32

Nice avatar BTW Pip!!

MacG · Post by **MacG** » 26 Jun 2008, 21:35

Thefts from allotments have been going on forever here. Already in the 1960's some of them fenced their entire area. Looks like concentration camps in the winter.

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 26 Jun 2008, 21:42

MacG wrote:Thefts from allotments have been going on forever here. Already in the 1960's some of them fenced their entire area. Looks like concentration camps in the winter.

Caution MacG, the PowerSwitchers don't like fences ... too Fascist or something ...

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 26 Jun 2008, 21:55

Vortex wrote:
MacG wrote:Thefts from allotments have been going on forever here. Already in the 1960's some of them fenced their entire area. Looks like concentration camps in the winter.
Caution MacG, the PowerSwitchers don't like fences ... too Fascist or something ...

I was just thinking that they wouldn't be strong enough, if the thief was desperate.

Erik · Post by **Erik** » 27 Jun 2008, 00:12

Andy Hunt wrote:Apparently in Bushbury Wolverhampton, some thieves stole a bloke's potatoes, but they stuck the stalks back in the ground so he wouldn't suspect anything!!!

He must have been gutted when he found out . . .

Sounds like an "old gardener's tale" to me. Maybe he had such an embarrassingly poor crop of potatoes that he told everyone that they must have been stolen, and that the thief had cunningly replanted them to cover his tracks!

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 27 Jun 2008, 01:14

Erik wrote:Sounds like an "old gardener's tale" to me. Maybe he had such an embarrassingly poor crop of potatoes that he told everyone that they must have been stolen, and that the thief had cunningly replanted them to cover his tracks!

Not this year. I live in a rain shadow but this year I haven't had to water the spuds - just, and I've got a really good crop so far.

I even replanted some of the earlies I've dug and got some more off them.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Jun 2008, 07:35

kenneal wrote: I even replanted some of the earlies I've dug and got some more off them.

Can you explain how that works, please? What did you do?

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 27 Jun 2008, 17:07

When I dug up the potato plant, Biff, and took the new tatties off it still had the seed potato attached and in good condition so I put the plant back and watered it in. The tiny tatties on the plant grew some more.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Jun 2008, 18:32

Oh right - I never would have thought that worked. I'll try that with the next ones I dig up. Ta.

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 27 Jun 2008, 19:40

Andy Hunt wrote:Today I've heard anecdotal evidence about people having vegetables stolen from their allotments and gardens.

A small notice on a stick should suffice.
"Five of these lettuces [marrows, tomatoes, whatever] have been injected with an undetectable poison. Only I know which ones"

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 27 Jun 2008, 19:56

Erik wrote:
Andy Hunt wrote:Apparently in Bushbury Wolverhampton, some thieves stole a bloke's potatoes, but they stuck the stalks back in the ground so he wouldn't suspect anything!!!

He must have been gutted when he found out . . .
Sounds like an "old gardener's tale" to me. Maybe he had such an embarrassingly poor crop of potatoes that he told everyone that they must have been stolen, and that the thief had cunningly replanted them to cover his tracks!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... bills.html

Desperate families begin stealing from allotments as they struggle with rising food bills

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:54 PM on 24th June 2008

They are struggling to cope with rising mortgage costs and mounting food bills.

And now, it would seem, some families are turning to crime to feed themselves.

Allotment owners across the country say they have seen a marked increase in the number of thefts from their plots.

At the Sandy Lane Allotments in Bushbury, Wolverhampton, two wheelbarrow loads of rhubarb and beetroot were recently stolen, while in Cheslyn Hay, near Cannock, Staffordshire, rhubarb, potatoes and onions were plundered.

Thefts: Families are stealing from allotments in the face of surging food bills

Allan Rees, chairman of the National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardeners, said: 'Families are getting poorer and this is one way of putting food on the table.

'I believe they are being sold on. Thieves stole potatoes from my own plot and put the stalks back in place so it was two or three days before I noticed.'

Security has been stepped up at the site, and anti-vandal paint and police patrols of the area brought in.

Other allotments have been forced to introduce more costly measures.

In West Bromwich, plot owners spent more than ?6,000 to put up a 150ft fence after a spate of thefts from their greenhouses.

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 27 Jun 2008, 20:18

In West Bromwich, plot owners spent more than ?6,000 to put up a 150ft fence after a spate of thefts from their greenhouses.

Blimey, that's what I call a high fence! Israeli firm?

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