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Original Sussex Installations video

Exclusive behind the scenes view of Van Security in Progress at Sussex Installations - Episode 1

Sep 19, 2021 · 2,691 recorded views

Video ID: F18BimwsPlYBusiness, manufacturing and recognitionSep 19, 2021 · 2,691 recorded views

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Original description

This is the 1st of an exclusive behind the scenes series of VLOGS; showing what goes on at Sussex Installations in Eastbourne. Sussex Installations are known world wide for our expertise in van security with YouTube videos on this channel since 2008, but this is the 1st in a new series giving a better insight of the efforts that our team put into keeping us at the forefront of Van Security. To find out our security recommendations for your van security, go to our website at https://www.sussexinstallations.co.uk and type in your van's registration.

Historical context: This video records the advice, products and attack methods relevant when it was published. Current recommendations may have changed as vehicles, products and criminal methods evolved.

Common questions

What's unique about how Sussex Installations fits its deadlocks compared to a typical fitter?

Jeff temporarily fits the lock case with screws first to check everything lines up, then drills it out for rivets, giving clean straight holes and blowing away all the swarf and rust debris — rather than leaving jagged cut metal trapped behind the lock case, which is what he'd typically seen elsewhere.

Why is the factory door switch position sometimes not good enough for detecting a break-in?

The factory switch sits low down on the door, so it won't trigger during a "peel and steal" door-folding attack until the door is already badly damaged. Fitting an extra switch up high means the alarm sounds as soon as the top of the door starts being pulled open.

How was an emergency courier callout with a snapped slam lock key resolved on the day?

Jeff managed to get the broken half of the key to still turn in the lock, with the other snapped piece still lodged inside, which was enough to open the van, get the 100 or so parcels moving again, and put the courier straight back on his round.

Transcript

Show transcript
0:00 -hello jeff here from sussex
0:01 -installations first off welcome to the
0:03 -lovely new premises just been here for
0:06 -just over a year now and um it's um it's
0:08 -brilliant it's really allowed the
0:09 -business to um to to move forward very
0:12 -windy day today so apologize if the uh
0:16 -audio is bad on this video let me show
0:19 -you what we're doing today
0:20 -at the moment we've got this um repair
0:22 -shield going on here by danny onto this
0:25 -um
0:26 -pro ace at the moment cover up that hull
0:28 -we've got our installations going on
0:30 -here with um
0:31 -with matt here doing a um doing a
0:33 -platinum package on this van
0:36 -and uh we just heard we just got an
0:37 -emergency situation here where a
0:39 -courier's got his slam lock key snapped
0:41 -off in his van so he's got a van full of
0:43 -like 100 parcels or something they all
0:45 -need to get delivered all time
0:46 -deliveries and stuff and he's on his way
0:48 -in as well so we're juggling jobs all
0:50 -over the place here at the moment the
0:52 -same time while we've got um this repair
0:54 -shield going on we've got rick here
0:56 -taking pictures for an instruction
0:59 -manual to write so if you guys are
1:01 -buying this repair shields in your van
1:03 -on our website we'll have some good
1:05 -pictures instructions step by step with
1:07 -how you're going to fit that shield
1:08 -yourself so it's all happening let's all
1:10 -go we've got a customer that's got the
1:13 -new style um it's like the voxel vivaro
1:17 -the toyota pro ace also got lots of
1:19 -stuff going on in the workshop hey matt
1:21 -give us a second here while we just just
1:22 -show what we're doing
1:24 -this is the new style model van it's the
1:27 -uh this is the toyota pro ace it's also
1:29 -voxel vivaro it's a peugeot expert and
1:33 -it is a citroen dispatch band so lots of
1:35 -current models of this van we've had a
1:38 -customer get in touch with us he's been
1:39 -broken into
1:41 -twice would you believe so first one i
1:43 -think was here they popped it open and
1:44 -then a couple of weeks later they broke
1:47 -in here and popped it open so
1:49 -this van big hassle for the owner and we
1:52 -was trying to sort of offer him a
1:53 -solution of what we can do to cover the
1:55 -damage so we did have an armor plate um
1:58 -we do have arm plates in stock but they
1:59 -only cover sort of so far down to here
2:02 -and he's got a bend here which is right
2:03 -near to a swage line so that's going to
2:05 -make it difficult for fitting like a
2:07 -universal repair plate which is what we
2:08 -sometimes offer just like a square
2:10 -universe or rectangle and the customer
2:12 -can bolt it over a hole if he's got a
2:14 -hole in the body work just a really
2:16 -funny shape around here and all the
2:17 -handle but actually the bodywork there's
2:19 -so many bends and folds and shape to the
2:22 -shape to this van that it's actually a
2:24 -very difficult shape to get what we've
2:26 -done is i did have one of these doors
2:27 -and i did have it in mind that i would
2:29 -actually develop
2:31 -a security shield for this van but it's
2:34 -just
2:34 -so many different things to do but for
2:36 -that customer we brought it up the
2:37 -priority list
2:39 -we've um tested tested measured
2:42 -taken all the data from it watch this
2:45 -it's just so clever it's so awesome the
2:47 -way this machine comes in these
2:56 -we've been through we've put in the time
2:57 -we've put in the effort we've gone
2:59 -version one
3:01 -two
3:02 -three
3:03 -four five
3:05 -six
3:07 -seven and i think eventually version
3:09 -number eight or possibly even number
3:11 -nine is what we've got on so we got the
3:13 -shape we've got it made up we've got it
3:16 -ready and now we've done a really nice
3:19 -stainless steel brushed stainless steel
3:21 -finish and it's studded up we've made
3:23 -the jig for all the studs and we've got
3:26 -that
3:26 -shield here ready to go and we're going
3:28 -to fit that onto this van now so repair
3:30 -up that damage and just stop the same
3:32 -thing happening again
3:38 -[Music]
3:47 -[Music]
3:58 -we've got charlotte in here in the
3:59 -office what's happening charlotte oh my
4:02 -gosh hi
4:04 -oh just you know busy busy busy lots of
4:07 -inquiries yeah it's good it's good i'm
4:09 -dealing with someone in germany at the
4:11 -moment
4:12 -and then our classes come down from
4:14 -burying them outside and we've got
4:15 -someone coming over from france next
4:17 -week as well it's like quite crazy cool
4:20 -and we've got someone coming from
4:20 -glasgow on
4:22 -tuesday
4:24 -sounds good have you got a helper in the
4:26 -office here there's no one there's no
4:27 -helper over there at the moment is there
4:29 -just one
4:31 -oh look
4:33 -introduce it who's your dog princess
4:35 -bird it's princess bo
4:38 -hey hi beau
4:43 -right back to the workshop
4:46 -okay so our emergency job has arrived
4:48 -now um
4:50 -key snapped off the guys are all tied up
4:52 -at the minute with their job so i'm
4:54 -gonna have a quick look here and see if
4:55 -i can jump in and get this going i mean
4:57 -the parcels being on board is a
4:59 -nightmare getting there getting the van
5:02 -open
5:02 -is obviously the biggest problem once
5:04 -you've got the van open we need to put
5:06 -new slam locks in it or actually the
5:08 -customer says he doesn't mind he doesn't
5:09 -need the slam locks anymore the
5:11 -requirement for the previous owner so he
5:12 -just wants it back to like working with
5:14 -the handle again he doesn't want the
5:16 -slam lock so if we can get the door open
5:18 -we can just put it back to
5:20 -the the factory handle on this
5:22 -particular instance i would think as
5:23 -long as the central locking still works
5:25 -on the van if we get really lucky
5:27 -sometimes we can just put the broken
5:28 -half of the key back in the lock
5:30 -and the the other snap part is still in
5:33 -the lock
5:35 -how about that
5:37 -that's handy
5:38 -that's that's the biggest problem
5:39 -getting in now we can get on do the job
5:42 -get there get it back to the factory
5:44 -handle so imagine all these customers
5:45 -waiting for their parcels what about the
5:47 -night there so
5:48 -glad we get this van open and now let's
5:50 -get this guy sorted and get him away
6:01 -[Music]
6:15 -[Music]
6:27 -i think we're in luck here
6:28 -that's opening that
6:31 -obviously the guy needs to be able to
6:32 -lock his van now because before it
6:34 -didn't matter if it was locked by the
6:35 -central lock-in but let's see if the
6:37 -central lock-in does actually work
6:41 -oh yeah there we go
6:43 -so yeah that's locked that's going to
6:44 -work so you can still lock the banners
6:45 -normal and then just unlock it and
6:49 -oh there's two presses
6:53 -so that's good that's that's the back
6:54 -door back to normal um so that's on our
6:57 -emergency courier sorted out now he's
6:59 -back up and running gonna get all them
7:01 -parcels delivered and all these
7:02 -collections this one's nearly done just
7:04 -about just coming together now looking
7:06 -um looking nice on that door so dan is
7:09 -just finishing that off now how's this
7:10 -job going here matt living the dream
7:13 -flying through it
7:14 -what have we got here okay so this is
7:16 -the barn door internal and external
7:18 -shield
7:20 -so new yeah our new barn door internal
7:23 -and external shield the one you can see
7:24 -on the outside and the one on the inside
7:26 -very important so it is the inside is
7:28 -like double layered up actually so it's
7:30 -um
7:31 -time you've got like the outside and the
7:33 -inside that the most vulnerable area is
7:35 -like triple layered with um with
7:37 -stainless steel so that bundle and
7:39 -internal shield looks like this it's our
7:42 -new newly developed and designed
7:44 -internal shield so it's double layered
7:46 -up in the most vulnerable part it's also
7:48 -got this tab here
7:50 -um just to guard against the cabling to
7:52 -near where the cable
7:54 -knew where the handle is just
7:56 -just an extra garden shaped internal
7:59 -section here on it as well so nice nice
8:01 -piece of kit
8:03 -we're also fitting internal and external
8:06 -side load door shielding so this is our
8:07 -euro 6.2
8:09 -internal shield for the side load door
8:11 -and that will cover over
8:13 -the
8:13 -latch mechanism which is behind here the
8:16 -latch which holds the door in the closed
8:18 -position it's a there is a vulnerability
8:20 -and our latch covers over that
8:21 -vulnerability we're also going to be
8:23 -fitting our external shield in this area
8:26 -as well this is our sussex installations
8:29 -external shield still got the laser film
8:31 -on it so if that will be removed and
8:33 -it's a nice brushed uh stainless steel
8:36 -look to that
8:37 -from the external we've done our
8:39 -platinum package so that is going to
8:41 -have our pir in the load area so if
8:44 -anyone was to even cut a hole in the
8:46 -roof of this van or peel the door down
8:49 -from the side get in any way then that
8:51 -will detect their movement
8:53 -has the side low door switch so if
8:56 -someone was to start pulling the side
8:58 -the top of the side light door open it
9:00 -gives like an early warning for the
9:02 -alarm because the factory switch is down
9:04 -the bottom here and may not detect that
9:06 -type of break in so we're putting that
9:08 -switch up the top of that door
9:10 -also we'll be fitting our hook block so
9:12 -matt's already been doing the cutouts
9:14 -for this what we do is quite unique the
9:16 -way we fit our deadlocks i i started the
9:19 -idea many years ago and and i just
9:21 -thought that i don't like the idea of
9:23 -you know typically people put the
9:25 -deadlock in the hole they screw it in
9:26 -place then they open up the screw holes
9:28 -um to the to the rivet and rivet in
9:31 -place but they leave all the cut metal
9:34 -like jagged behind there where they've
9:35 -been drilling these holes and it all
9:36 -just sort of gets trapped between the
9:38 -the lock case and the body work or in
9:40 -this case the keep and the body work so
9:42 -what we do is we get them temporarily
9:44 -fitted with the screws in the first
9:46 -place make sure everything lines up then
9:48 -we drill it out for the for like the
9:50 -rivet holes here you see nice nice
9:52 -straight um saw holes and then we give
9:55 -it a good blow down with the air line
9:57 -and just blow away
9:58 -blow away all those um any rust debris
10:01 -that are there so there's the there's a
10:04 -cut out for the lock case same thing on
10:06 -the barn door and it will be our hook
10:09 -style deadlocks that are going to go
10:11 -into this van i'll show you once we're
10:12 -done but it's the block on this door
10:15 -hooks and it hooks into the bracket
10:17 -which will be fitting onto this door
10:19 -once we've finished so also in this van
10:21 -we'll be fitting our peel and steel
10:23 -bracket which will go up the top
10:25 -of the side load door so fix it fixes to
10:29 -the side load door up the top here and
10:32 -it will go so once the door closes it
10:34 -locks in behind a bracket which will
10:36 -stick up the top here again so if anyone
10:38 -is pulling on the side load door trying
10:39 -to do like a peel and steel type of
10:41 -attack
10:42 -and it's making that door more secure
10:44 -more rigid to that then of course we've
10:46 -changed the driver's door barrel which
10:47 -is you know something that was happening
10:49 -from ford's from many years ago was the
10:51 -either grabbing the grabbing the
10:54 -driver's door with the grips on the
10:56 -outside or just forcing the lock from
10:58 -the inside like with a screwdriver so
11:00 -that's our replacement lock which has
11:03 -the slip ring on the outside and it has
11:05 -our high security dimpled key and it
11:07 -will be key the light to the deadlock so
11:09 -we'll be using the same key for that
11:11 -driver's door barrel as what we'll be
11:13 -using for the deadlocks
11:15 -so here we are it's done look at that
11:17 -beauty it was a van with holes looking
11:20 -manky look at it now
11:22 -it's a work of art if i do so
11:24 -if i do say so myself following the
11:27 -contours of the van nice brushed
11:29 -stainless steel finish of course the
11:30 -carrots are logo always good so see if
11:33 -we've got to have lumps of metal on our
11:35 -van we don't want it to be like a
11:36 -patchwork quilt of your van you know
11:38 -want to design
11:39 -jewelry for your van that's what i'm
11:41 -looking to design something that looks
11:42 -nice that looks the part but is also
11:44 -effective and actually you know covers
11:46 -up the holes that people are making
11:48 -we've got rick here taking some pictures
11:49 -for the website go on to our gallery
11:53 -and onto the youtube instagram channel
11:55 -hope you've enjoyed this video found it
11:57 -interesting follow us on facebook
11:59 -instagram and of course subscribe to the
12:02 -youtube channel youtube.com forward
12:04 -slash sussex installation
12:06 -thanks for watching
12:19 -you

Transcript source: the YouTube transcript supplied for this project with minor corrections. Automated transcripts can contain recognition errors and should be checked against the original video.

Page details

Author
Jeff Scott
Publisher
Sussex Installation Team Ltd
Updated
2026-08-27
Primary focus
Business, manufacturing and recognition
Jeff Scott, founder of Sussex Installation Team Ltd
About the author

Jeff Scott — Van Security Specialist and Industry Educator

Jeff Scott is the founder of Sussex Installation Team Ltd (Sussex Installations). He has fitted vehicle-security systems since 1997, started Sussex Installations in 2003 and has specialised in van security since 2008. His work combines installation, vulnerability research, product design, UK manufacturing and long-term public education.

In 2009, Jeff published the first known YouTube video explaining mechanical key-operated van deadlocks. He has continued documenting van-security products, installation standards, vehicle vulnerabilities and changing attack methods ever since – earning his description as "The OG Van Security YouTuber."

Jeff has supported thousands of professional vehicle aftermarket technicians across the UK and beyond with access to technical information, while actively promoting higher quality installation standards through his trade community ifitstuff.com since 2006.