Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
17th April 2024 Issue no. 701

Your industry news - first

We strongly recommend viewing Locks and Security News full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.

New movie inspires home safety initiative

Icon Film Distribution has teamed up with Timpson for the upcoming release of new Hammer horror film The Resident to offer a 10% discount to people changing their household door locks in a move to raise awareness of home security.

Produced by British horror institution Hammer Films, The Resident stars Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan and BAFTA Fellow Sir Christopher Lee, who first made his name in the Hammer films of the 1950s.

A tense thriller, the story follows Dr. Juliet Deverau (Swank) as a woman who moves to live alone in a new apartment, only to slowly discover a terrifying fact: that someone else also has a key, and is creeping into her apartment while she sleeps.

While the film's story is deliberately told for terror, the general issue of security that it raises will nonetheless hit home with many of the UK's tenants and homeowners. "It's surprising how many people never even consider changing the locks when moving into a new home, despite the fact that so many people would also admit to still having a key to an old residence of their own", says Adam Jackson, co-founder of the UK Locksmiths Association.

Around 37,500 homes in the UK change hands every year, with many buyers unaware that at least one spare set of keys is still in circulation with a third party. According to a survey conducted by NOP on behalf of insurer NIG, over half (58%) of British residents give away spare sets of keys to their home, and the rate at which spare keys are not reclaimed is highest in rental properties, where 7% of tenants do not reclaim spare keys when they move on.
Another survey, conducted by Halifax Home Insurance, found that 12 million adults have lost their keys over 6 times in the last ten years alongside identification or address details and still did not change their locks.

"Moving house is a highly stressful experience so it is no surprise that securing your new home by changing the locks can be overlooked," says Tony Sharpe, Head of Business Development-Lock & Key Services at Timpson, "but this simple procedure guarantees that you are in control of who has access to each and every set of keys.

23rd March 2011