If you’re on social media and have even a passing curiosity in house enchancment, there’s a superb likelihood you’ll have seen Kevin Tingley’s work. The 39-year-old decorator is named Paint Warrior – and has tens of millions of followers throughout TikTok and Instagram. He’s in demand, extremely expert, beneficiant in sharing suggestions from his a few years of expertise and even has his personal vary of merchandise on sale within the UK and the US.
However even together with his social media military and branded brushes, he’s nonetheless not proof against the most important menace confronted by British tradespeople: device theft. “It was Boxing Day morning,” Tingley says. “I used to be nonetheless in mattress, my spouse was on her strategy to the health club. She got here working again in and instructed me that every one the doorways of my van had been open.”
He instantly knew what that meant – he’d been “executed”. Tingley ran exterior to see the doorways of his van bent out of practice, with the majority of his instruments lacking and the bits that remained strewn throughout his driveway. He later discovered from a neighbour’s CCTV that the thieves had struck about an hour beforehand. Tingley’s van was parked just some ft from his home. “I used to be pacing up and down the kitchen considering: ‘Oh, bloody hell.’ After which it hit me – I’d need to cancel all the roles I’d booked for January and February.”
‘It got here on the worst attainable time’ … Kevin Tingley, whose van was damaged into. {Photograph}: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
That was the least of it. On prime of the cancellations, there could be the price of fixing his van (the sliding door had been prised off its rails and different panels had been broken), plus changing the tools. And never simply brushes, rollers, ladders and overalls: a contemporary decorator makes use of costly dustless sanding setups, energy instruments, sprayers and all method of different expensive package. However with out cash coming in, Tingley would nonetheless need to pay his payments and the wages of his son and daughter, who’re each staff.
“It’s been actually shit,” he says. “It got here on the worst attainable time; simply after Christmas, which is clearly costly, plus my spouse, son and daughter have their birthdays in January. We’d simply dedicated to a automobile for his 18th. Nothing flashy, nevertheless it was a promise and we couldn’t return on that.”
Tingley known as the police. At first, he says, they wished to only give him a criminal offense reference quantity for the theft, however he insisted officers pay him a go to to research additional. He lives simply exterior Milton Keynes and it transpired there have been a number of different related incidents in his neighbourhood that evening. Police obtained CCTV footage, from which they discovered the quantity plate of a car pushed by the suspects, however greater than two months on, Tingley is ready for an replace. He’s not hopeful of a constructive final result, and has resigned himself to easily working flat out for the remainder of the yr to mitigate the harm.
He estimates the theft has value him about £17,000, to not point out the numerous sleepless nights worrying that his enterprise was ruined. He has additionally began renting a safe lock-up to retailer his tools – one other expense – to attempt to cease it occurring once more. Whereas he’s insured, he’s unsure if this theft is roofed by his coverage because the instruments had been left in his van in a single day.
A van broken in a theft. {Photograph}: Stolen Instruments UK
It’s an all-too-common story. Greater than 80% of tradespeople within the UK report having had instruments stolen in some unspecified time in the future of their profession, with related prices equivalent to harm, device alternative and misplaced work collectively working into the a whole bunch of tens of millions. A 2023 research by Direct Line enterprise insurance coverage additionally acknowledged that, on common, a device was reported stolen each 12 minutes. It’s a generally quoted determine by police, insurers and tradespeople, however device theft was up 16% final yr from 2024. Plus, many don’t even report their instruments stolen after dropping religion within the insurance coverage system – as a result of it’s too costly or they’re unable to assert attributable to not assembly the factors set out of their coverage – or within the police restoration fee: about 2% of stolen instruments are returned to their homeowners. That 12-minute determine will undoubtedly now be even worse.
In fact, device theft shouldn’t be a brand new phenomenon. Most tradies will expertise it a number of instances of their profession (37% may have it occur twice, 23% thrice, based on a survey by development business organisation On the Instruments). What’s new is the dimensions and frequency. Robin Clevett, a carpenter for nearly 40 years, YouTuber and presenter on development station Repair Radio, remembers the primary time he had his instruments stolen – simply weeks after he had certified.
“It was 1987. I used to be 17, I’d simply began working and purchased myself a Ford Capri,” he says. “All my instruments had been within the again, and I went to the pub after work. After I returned, the rear window had been smashed and all my instruments had been gone. It’s occurred to me a few instances since then, too. What’s completely different now could be the amount. It’s industrial.”
It’s such an issue that Clevett has fully altered his strategy to work: he received’t entertain jobs in sure areas or for purchasers who can’t present a driveway or off-street parking. He additionally takes a packed lunch to websites each day so he received’t need to name in to a grocery store – automobile parks are infamous break-in websites, even should you’re simply popping in for a meal deal. Each tradesperson I spoke to for this text stated the identical: concern of theft could be very actual, and it’s inflicting a significant shift in the best way tradespeople are working.
Simply a number of the £2m value of instruments seized in Ilford, east London, earlier this yr. {Photograph}: Metropolitan police
“That is occurring in all cities and cities,” says Insp Mark Connolly of the Metropolitan police. He’s a part of a joint taskforce on device theft within the borough of Havering in east London. Earlier this yr, Connolly led a raid on a property in close by Ilford, the place officers found stolen instruments value a conservatively estimated £2m. It’s regarded as the biggest haul of stolen instruments ever found within the UK.
It was the results of months of intelligence-gathering throughout the south-east in an operation often called Larkwood. Connolly has been working intently with Sgt Dave Catlow, who does related work throughout Sidcup, Bexley and surrounding areas in south London.
A number of years in the past, Connolly and Catlow’s work was ceaselessly taking them to automobile boot gross sales throughout London and Essex for compliance checks amongst sellers, and an image started to emerge. Stolen instruments had been rife, typically laid out on tarpaulins in stripes of purple, yellow and blue – Milwaukee, DeWalt and Makita, the three hottest manufacturers for tradies and thieves alike. They realised the thefts had been being carried out not by remoted opportunists however by critical organised legal gangs.
Energy instruments on the market at a automobile boot sale
Whereas it’s appropriate to imagine nearly all of incidents contain extremely transportable objects equivalent to electrical drills, saws and sanders – “potluck objects from van break-ins”, Catlow says – Operation Larkwood charted an alarming rise within the theft of extra heavy-duty objects. One latest theft noticed surveying instruments and even earth-moving tools stolen from a development website in Tilbury for the Decrease Thames crossing, the £10bn street that can join Kent and Essex through a tunnel beneath the river when it’s completed within the 2030s.
“When these types of things are being stolen, we all know the gangs have been following surveyors and specialist contractors,” says Catlow. “We all know plenty of these objects are going abroad. One other tactic for the gangs is to rent specialist tools utilizing a fraudulent firm after which not return the instruments.”
Catlow is about to embark on a brand new position with the nationwide enterprise crime centre, a Residence Workplace-funded division beforehand tasked with tackling retail crimes equivalent to shoplifting and warehouse theft. There’s an enormous overlap with device theft, he says, stating that it’s the identical gangs doing a lot of the stealing. They’re cellular and alter techniques as soon as the police have some success. If the highlight on device theft turns into too shiny, for instance, they swap to nicking catalytic converters or copper cables from beside railway strains.
“At a few of these automobile boots, you may decide up a reciprocating noticed, and subsequent to it’s some child milk, olive oil and a few espresso. The gangs are into every little thing,” says Catlow. “The identical gangs which are going out doing the vans for instruments and cigarettes, typically their different halves are out shoplifting, nicking the espresso and the child milk. It does come collectively fairly properly.”
One other rising tactic is for the gangs to reach at a automobile boot sale earlier than it opens to the general public and offload vanfuls of stolen instruments wholesale to different merchants, then vanish. Additionally they steal quantity plates from different automobiles to develop into untraceable.
Frankie Williams (proper) and fellow activist Shoaib Awan (third from proper), with Metropolitan law enforcement officials at a neighborhood device marking occasion. {Photograph}: Courtesy of Frankie Williams/Stolen_Tools_UK
Frankie Williams is a window restorer in north London and had his instruments stolen in November 2022. He was about £3,500 out of pocket however solely realised the extent of the issue within the weeks that adopted as he talked to colleagues who instructed him their tales of device theft. He rapidly arrange a Fb web page, adopted by an Instagram account and web site – Stolen Instruments UK – the place fellow tradespeople may go in the event that they skilled theft.
Initially, it was about placing a highlight on the difficulty and creating an area for solidarity, nevertheless it has grown into one thing far greater. He now posts – depressingly frequently – photographs and movies of thefts in addition to tricks to keep secure to nearly 200,000 followers. His campaigning takes him everywhere in the nation to fulfill affected tradespeople and discuss to device producers and insurers. “That is simply what it’s like being a tradesperson in 2026,” says Williams. “It’s robust sufficient on the market as it’s, and this simply squeezes the trades an increasing number of.”
It has develop into so endemic that many device producers have insurance policies in place to interchange in-warranty stolen instruments at a reduced fee. A spokesperson for Mirka, maker of high-end sanders, says: “Our stolen device assist coverage sends a transparent message to customers that they aren’t on their very own when issues go mistaken. It is a critical situation that causes expensive downtime and sudden monetary pressure, and we wish to assist individuals get again to work sooner.”
Williams isn’t the one campaigner. Shining a light-weight on these automobile boot gross sales turned a preoccupation for the plumber Shoaib Awan – The Fuel Knowledgeable on social media – when he turned the sufferer of device theft practically three years in the past. Outraged by the incident and hundreds out of pocket, he began a web-based petition calling for the federal government (then the Conservatives) to behave. It achieved 46,000 signatures and was properly on its strategy to the requisite 100,000 to be mentioned within the Commons, however a change in authorities when Labour took workplace meant the petition was taken down.
Trades United protesting in London in February 2025. {Photograph}: PA Pictures/Alamy Reside Information
He then based a marketing campaign group, Trades United, and organised some direct motion. In June 2024, he employed a tank, gathered 200 tradies of their vans and drove in convoy from Brent Cross in north London to Parliament Sq., the place they blocked the roads. In February 2025, he did it once more, and greater than doubled the dimensions of the protest. He additionally raised £10,000 to distribute amongst victims and has since received a string of awards for his work highlighting the difficulty. It was via Awan’s work that plenty of MPs, together with Reform’s Robert Jenrick, have come to assist the difficulty and name for laws to ban automobile boot gross sales from promoting energy instruments.
Awan celebrated a small victory final month as organisers of Hounslow Heath automobile boot put up indicators saying the sale of energy instruments is prohibited. He’s hoping different websites comply with go well with, and that the federal government takes extra concrete steps quickly.
There’s a sense among the many many tradespeople I spoke to that they’re on their very own, and that the federal government shouldn’t be excited about coping with the issue. Whether or not or not that’s true, contemplating that the development business accounts for about 9% of the UK workforce and brings round £130bn to the economic system every year, you would possibly count on stamping it out to be a vote-winning precedence for any celebration.
And it’s not simply automobile boot gross sales which have been infiltrated. Catlow talks of high-street pawnbroker Money Converters being utilized by thieves to dump instruments: “They’ve accepted that they’ve bought a problem they usually’re taking a look at coverage adjustments.” A spokesperson for Money Converters stated: “Money Converters UK takes the difficulty of stolen items extraordinarily severely. Each merchandise we purchase or promote undergoes a rigorous identification and verification course of in step with the secondhand vendor laws, Client Rights Act and money-laundering laws in addition to our personal strict inside insurance policies and procedures.”
Ed Davey launching his marketing campaign to deal with device theft in January. {Photograph}: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
Harder sentencing for criminals is one thing each interviewee needs to see. There are hopes that latest adjustments to the Sentencing Act 2026, championed by, amongst others, the Labour MP for Portsmouth North, Amanda Martin, will have an impact. The authorized change encourages judges to take emotional misery and lack of livelihood brought on by device theft into consideration when handing down sentences.
In Eire, the place device theft is a similar-sized downside, a compulsory three-year jail sentence for these caught stealing commerce instruments has been proposed by Wonderful Gael’s PJ Murphy, a senator from Galway. The modification just lately handed the second of 5 levels earlier than it may develop into regulation.
The Liberal Democrat chief Ed Davey launched Operation Ironclad earlier this yr, the celebration’s marketing campaign to make stopping device theft a precedence, underpinned by harder sentencing, stricter guidelines on gross sales and requires van producers to put in safety measures as commonplace. (A few of these adjustments are already on the best way – for instance, Catlow tells me, from February subsequent yr, all van producers will probably be required to suit new automobiles with alarms within the rear, not simply the cabin.)
Because the police are making progress and the federal government seems to be to be, lastly, taking the issue severely, Clevett, the carpenter, needs everybody to shun the secondhand market, irrespective of how good a deal would possibly seem at first. “It’s simply fuelling the thefts. Hopefully no DIYer will purchase them, both.”
‘That is occurring in all cities and cities’ … Insp Mark Connolly. {Photograph}: Metropolitan police
Awan factors out that stolen instruments are straightforward to identify – they are going to be completely battered on account of their fixed use earlier than being stolen. “Tradespeople love their instruments, and use them till they break,” he says. “You’ll get your storage clearances, like when a relative dies or one thing, however these instruments look very completely different to a tradie’s device. It’s uncommon that they’d be on the market legitimately.”
It’s straightforward to assume the state of affairs is hopeless however Connolly and Catlow level to issues that may be executed to assist. Instrument marking is one thing everybody I spoke to mentions (and never merely writing your initials on a drill in black Sharpie, as is usually the case). They are saying they’re pleading with individuals within the development commerce to mark their instruments with SelectaDNA, a substance that provides a device a novel code when sprayed on, which helps police reunite recovered objects with their homeowners. They frequently hand out free kits at occasions. Proving that it really works, an costly device known as a fibre optic splicer was returned final month to Openreach after being stolen and found by Connolly and Catlow’s workforce within the Ilford raid.
Gary Ross is CEO of Blip insurance coverage, a comparatively new firm that specialises in cowl for small companies. He, as you may think, believes insurance coverage is significant for a tradesperson, and that, together with upgrading any van locks or putting in a safe cage in a van, the perfect factor a tradie may do is to take a day to learn via their coverage paperwork.
“Insurers pay out on about 97% of legitimate, qualifying claims, so it’s not pointless. However it’s vital that individuals take an itemised stock of their instruments,” he says. “Additionally, maintain the receipts and take photographs of the instruments to assist with any insurance coverage declare. Be canny, and take some possession. It might sound boring however it could take a weekend and will dramatically change the result if the worst occurs.”
Proving {that a} blended strategy of consciousness, tool-marking and police motion works is Hertfordshire, simply north of London. The county was as soon as hostage to device theft, however figures have been falling for 3 years in a row, dropping additional throughout the first few months of 2026.
Police seize suspected stolen instruments throughout a raid of a automobile boot sale in 2025. {Photograph}: Courtesy of Frankie Williams/Stolen_Tools_UK
Jonathan Ash-Edwards is Hertfordshire’s police and crime commissioner. “A lot of the work we’ve executed is consciousness,” he says. “That is one thing that may, partly, be prevented. So we’ve been encouraging individuals to not go away instruments of their vans, of their automobiles, wherever attainable.”
In fact, that isn’t all the time sensible given how a lot most tradespeople have of their vans. Plus, many thefts occur throughout the day, after they’re working, or visiting a potential shopper to supply a quote.
“We all know that is focused,” continues Ash-Edwards, “so we’ve executed plenty of work round understanding explicit areas, equivalent to lodges, for instance, the place a good quantity of instruments are stolen from vans which are parked up for the evening.” Premier Inn, for instance, is trialling a safe parking scheme involving enclosed parking areas, CCTV and further lighting.
“We are able to generally have too passive a view about crime – that it’s simply one thing individuals need to put up with. However it isn’t inevitable. And we have now the info to point out that if you deal with taking away alternative for the thefts, the variety of incidents goes down.
“That is, finally, about individuals’s livelihoods,” says Ash-Edwards. “Tradespeople ought to be capable of rise up within the morning with a busy day of labor forward of them and never have to fret whether or not their instruments have been nicked in a single day. We owe it to them for there to be a constant deal with it.”
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