Going on holiday

Greater Manchester Police have produced a useful guide on how to avoid being a target for crime when you are away on holiday.

Download the A4 going on holiday guide (1.06 MB PDF file).

Before you go - Remember

• The best burglary deterrent is to make the home look occupied.
• Unless a room is obviously a bedroom to people outside the home, don’t close your curtains in the daytime.
• Ask a trusted friend or neighbour to close them for you when it goes dark. Neighbours can help each other in many ways. They can keep the home looking occupied by maintaining the garden to even parking their car on your driveway.
• Use automatic timer-switches to turn your lights on when it goes dark – don’t forget bedrooms.
• Cancel any milk or newspaper deliveries.
• Avoid discussing holiday plans in front of strangers.
• Cut the lawn before you go and trim back any plants that burglars could hide behind.
• If there is a chance that mail will pile up on your doorstep whilst you are away, consider the Post Office’s ‘Keepsafe’ service. For a small fee, they can hold back the delivery of mail for up to two months.
• Consider leaving important documents and valuable items with other family members or a bank.
• If you normally leave valuable pedal cycles or similar items in your shed, consider putting them in the house.
• If neighbours keep your keys, advise them not to put your surname, address or even your house number on in case they fall into the wrong hands.
• Make sure that you’ve locked all outside doors and windows and, if you have a burglar alarm, make sure it is set.

The Journey

• Don’t put your home address on your luggage, when you are travelling to your holiday destination.
• Most airlines will restrict you to one item of hand luggage.
• Keep valuables like cameras, jewellery, cash and passports in this bag so they are with you all the time.
• Don’t rely on the locks that are built into the suitcase, as most are simply just not up to the job. An extra padlock will deter most thieves and putting a belt around the case will help prevent the suitcase bursting open.
• Never leave your luggage unattended at the airport as the chances are it will be removed by the security staff, or worse still, a thief.
• When you’ve arrived at your destination, collect your luggage as soon as possible. Check to see if it has been tampered with. If you think it may have been, report it at once!

At the destination

• If you want to exchange currency, try and have the exact amount of money ready. Don’t produce a wallet bulging with cash.
• Don’t keep your passport, sterling or foreign currency together and most importantly make sure you keep your travelers cheques in a separate, safe, secure place.
• Many hotels have a safety deposit box for you to store your passport, large amounts of cash and credit cards. Always detach the key fob from the deposit box key and place the fob in the deposit box, after memorising the box number.
• If you happen to lose the key, you won’t also lose all your money!
• Handbag and jewellery snatches are not uncommon in many tourist resorts, so don’t put anything valuable in your bag, and only wear what jewellery is needed.
• On a similar note, pick-pocketing is widespread in many holiday cities, so again only carry what is necessary.
• There is also every conceivable ‘con’ going on in most busy holiday locations, from the photographer who promises to forward the picture, to the time-share sales person. When you’ve switched off and are having a good time, it becomes difficult to tell who the criminals really are.
• If you find burglary is a problem in your hotel, then consider hiding valuables in your room. A ‘can-safe’ looks like a normal tin of food, hair-spray or drink, but the bottom unscrews to let you store items away out of sight.
• You can improve door security by taking a temporary door lock. Looking a little bit like a slide ruler, these locks can be put in your closed bedroom door to stop anyone getting in whilst you are asleep. The type of personal attack alarm which has a pull string to activate the unit, can often be positioned to go round the door handle. Anyone opening the door whilst you are in would activate the alarm.