Coventry Best 4 Business

Companies - many of whom spend thousands of pounds on hi-tech security equipment - are putting themselves at risk by leaving their gates open!

The businesses in Coventry are putting themselves at risk every night and across the weekends, the Business Improvement District (BID) team has warned.

Coventry Best for Business (B4B) has round-the-clock security patrol cars monitoring 84 business parks and industrial estates in the city seven days a week - and the overwhelming problem they find is gates being left unlocked out-of-hours.

The recent weeks have been particularly bad - 32 gates were left unsecured over a weekend earlier this month.

Stephen Welch, chief executive of Coventry B4B, said the security patrols are becoming increasingly concerned about the problem on BID sites.

"The patrols are finding that companies may have state-of-the-art alarms, barb wire fences and other security measures - but then they are leaving their entrances open either overnight or over the weekends," he said.

"It not only puts individual companies at risk, but everyone on the sites.

"Our patrol cars visit the BID sites at least three times every 24 hours and will shut the gates if they are open - but to protect themselves, businesses need to lock up.

"The patrols try to monitor any unlocked sites throughout the night - but there are times when up to a dozen estates are left exposed.

"We hope businesses try to tackle the problem, otherwise they are risking vandalism or burglary - and expenses all companies need to avoid."

For information about the Coventry B4B security measures, contact 02476 654 300.