lockedin wrote:Just out of curiosity-- what is the high-security lock of choice in the UK? I'm thinking abloy or kaba are a pan-european thing, but does the UK have its own homemade high-security lock?
pan-european?
Well, locks are very diverse across Europe. In the southern countries you can find double-bitted lever locks on doors, in Germany those are usually reserved for safe locks or some alarm locks.
In the U.K. you find a lot of mortice lever locks.
In the northern countries Abloy is popular, and KABA in Switzerland. But those are very seldom in Germany - you can find KABA a bit more often, though.
The same goes for the way people show their alarm systems (the "bell" boxes)... In Germany they were usually made of steel and painted gray or brown, matching to the space they were mounted, so that they are hard to spot. 'Don't show them too openly, burglars could think there's something worth stealing...'
In the U.K., they are usually made from colorful plastic, sometimes with blinking LEDs, so that the would-be-burglar can't miss them and get scared...
There are very different security-cultures
These days, there is Globalization, though. That all starts to mix a lot.
Cheers,
mh