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Original Sussex Installations video

Ridiculous Ford Custom Break in! What the actual F*ck is going on with this level of destruction UK

Mar 7, 2025 · 117,927 recorded views

Video ID: ZgdpqT-D0H4Attacks, shielding and repairMar 7, 2025 · 117,927 recorded views

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Original description

Shocking Ford Transit Custom break in. We've never had to develop such a huge size shield before, it's absolutely massive! But the thieves in the UK keep on making bigger holes in vans when they break into them and we have to do something to help the tradesmen in the UK to repair their vans so that they can get back to work and provide for their families.

We developed this huge shield for the side load door of the Ford Transit Custom (from 2013 to 2023 model) when a customer came to us after suffering a horrific break in by thieves to his van. We had already made a large size shield for this model Ford Custom van two years ago when we had a customer come to us with damage that we then thought was outrageous! We had thought that the large size shield we developed then to cover over the hole and damage caused by the thieves was huge, but that has been eclipsed now by this extra large size shield that we have developed to repair even bigger damage.

This customer also had damage caused by thieves attacking two deadlocks on the side load door of his Ford Custom van and so we also had to work hard to cover the damage by using one of our 901 deadlock escutcheon shields and also adding an additional lower lip this extra large 003 latch shield to cover the damage where they attacked the lower deadlock (this one off shape alteration is not something that we can normally do, but we were able to on this occasion as we took it into consideration when we were designing the tooling that we use to attache the studs to the shield).

Find out more on our website at https://www.sussexinstallations.co.uk

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

Why did this Ford Custom need such an unusually large shield?

Thieves cut a hole in the side load door far bigger than anything Jeff had seen before, even bigger than the "large" shield he'd developed two years earlier for a previous customer's Ford Custom, which he'd thought was huge at the time. To cover the damage properly this van needed an extra-large shield, developed and fitted within a single day.

What other damage had this Ford Custom suffered besides the hole in the door?

Thieves had also attacked both deadlocks fitted to the side load door, in the upper and lower positions. Sussex Installations covered that damage using a 901 deadlock escutcheon shield, with an additional lower lip added to the extra-large FOR3-NSL-EXT-004 latch shield, a one-off shape alteration made possible because it had been considered when designing the stud-fitting tooling.

How long did it take to design and fit the extra-large shield?

It was developed and fitted within a single day, on top of some preparatory work done the day before. The team built the shield, cut the gasket on their CNC machine, attached the weld studs and fitted it before the customer collected the van that evening, though because of the time pressure, colour-matching the shield to the van wasn't possible on the same day.

Transcript

Show transcript
Intro
0:00 -hi I'm Jeff from Sussex Installations look at this what the actual is going on in this country in
0:08 -the UK the level of Destruction with people hacking apart doors on Vans making a big mess breaking into vans
0:16 -look at the state of this this damage is just huge this is a large size
Damage inspection
0:24 -shield on the side lad D van and they've hacked a massive hole all the way around
0:30 -this large size side load door I've attacked the deadlock on the van twin Deadlocks on this van attacked the deadlock here snapped the barrel out of it
0:39 -and attacked a lower position deadlock here as well going at it please do give us a like on this video and please don't
0:47 -forget to subscribe to our channel that way you can stay up to date with the latest van security as things change I mean it's really got you make you wonder
What is the state of our country?
0:56 -what is the state of our country where this stuff is happening how can Tradesman sleep at night when this type of thing is happening to Vans up and
1:04 -down the country what country do we actually live in where this is like acceptable this is happening like did
1:11 -the police even bother coming did they just write out a crime reference number like and give it across the phone like
1:17 -or what what the actual is going on so this is a big mess we have a large size
1:26 -Shield but that already is the size of a large size Shield this damage is like cut out all the way around the outside
1:34 -of that Shield it's attacking this deadlock in the lower position which is a way down here on the door and there's damage all the way up here on the
1:43 -deadlock in the higher position so it's a real big mess but the so I've been saying for a while now like basically ssic installations has become well as
Sussex Installations has become a van repair business
1:52 -much of Van repair business as we are a van security business because the amount of uh damage and the amount of holes that being made in Vans by feet
2:00 -and we're trying to give our customers and Tradesmen of the UK like cost effective repair Solutions so they can get their van back on the road get back
2:08 -in business without having a fork out for like £2,000 for a new door so this is pushing it a little bit the only sort of good thing about it I mean if there
2:16 -is a good thing about it is that the damage to the rest of the van is actually like it's not like all bent up all the the Sea post and that the the
2:23 -Bodywork of the van is still okay the damage is really limited to the actual door although the damage is huge so we
2:32 -are going to see like can we push it a bit further can we keep going get a van repaired when a damage is this much when
2:39 -this is the scale of the damage we want to help we want to do something we've put in some time already yesterday developing an extra large size Shield to
We are going to have to develop an extra large shield
2:48 -go on the side load door here and what we're going to do is we're going to carry on that development now and see can we get this van repaired and back on
2:55 -the road when we made our large size shield for this van we thought that was out outrageously big but I think the length of what we got to go to now is
3:03 -people been joking about oh you have to change the whole door soon like put a shield across the whole door but seems like we're heading that way it is pretty ridiculous but we are actually seeing
3:12 -more and more damage that's they going up into this Sage line up the top of the van here like huge levels of Destruction
3:20 -so let's see can we do this can we get this van back on the road get this guy back in business get him back to work
3:32 -[Music]
The reveal of the shields with the van repaired
3:39 -this was absolutely wrecked this morning let's see what it looks like now with our Shield Danny are we ready yes are we
3:46 -ready for the reveal let's do you guys ready for the reveal I don't know what a shield of this size is going to look like here we got the deadlock
3:57 -repair and we have our O3 okay keep going
4:06 -Danny whoa like I mean I don't know what to
4:13 -say that's huge so a lot went into this today and this week in terms of developing this extra large Shield I
4:21 -mean we're pretty Gob smacked really we thought that when we developed our large size we thought that that was absolutely Mega and that was huge and that was like
4:29 -the biggest Shield be seen but now it's it's been dwarfed by this basically yeah if the van was left with us for a week
4:36 -we probably could color match this um in our spray facility but during today it's me like it's been so much work just getting the van getting the shield
4:45 -develops and getting it here and getting it done is just not possible you know and then you got like wet freshly painted Shields like pressing your finger prints in that's going to make a mess of
4:53 -it so that's just not possible and if I cue uh a stupid comment I thought it looked better
5:00 -before yeah sure mate drive around with a massive hole in the side of your van and don't have the shield on
5:06 -it like if that's what pleases you um go ahead um it's not a brand new door but it is a solution this van is back on the
5:15 -road if you're watching this video there's a good chance that this is a product that's actually available to buy from our website or from our eBay store or our Amazon store if you're in a
5:24 -situation like this customer where you got the side lad door which is absolutely wrecked in such a big lot of damage to it then this might be a
5:32 -solution to get you on the road so get in touch with us I hope you found this video interesting please do give us a like on this video and please don't forget to subscribe to our channel that
5:41 -way you can stay up to date with the latest van security as things change if you're thinking about buying one of these from us and fitting it yourself stay tuned and we're just going to fit
5:48 -this one now and you'll get a bit of an idea of what's involved in fitting it
How to fit the shield yourself start to finish
5:56 -[Music]
6:01 -ridiculous
6:05 -[Music]
6:16 -[Music]
6:33 -[Music]
7:38 -[Music]
7:51 -and like all our products they come with full step-by-step fitting guide making it as easier as possible for either you to fit or for your mechanic to fit or
7:58 -your local security specialist to fit for you please do give us a like please do subscribe to our channel that way we can
8:06 -keep you up to date with the latest van security as things change hope you found that interesting if you want stick around we'll show you a bit more about the behind the scenes about the
Behind the scenes development process
8:13 -development process that we went to while developing this Shield stay tuned so look this is the size of our standard size shield for the side lad door this
8:22 -is our large size Shield which is what is actually on this fan already now what
8:29 -we're actually looking at to get this van back on the road and save that door getting pretty ridiculous really isn't it look at the state of this well I say
8:37 -the state of this looking a lot better than what it was earlier um we have a function latch we've switched out the latch from another van so it's got a new
8:45 -latch in it um we're about to put our internal shield in it we're going to put on this extra large external Shield it's
8:54 -like 4:00 on a Friday supposed to be like Christmas St due tonight we're we're like up against it now we put in
9:03 -work two days this week already we put in work although it wasn't two full days work on it ahead of time we got the tool in made for The Jig so we can attach the
9:11 -weld studs to the shield which we're going to use to bolt it up with cuz like while we're doing our development ones it's all well and good just us making
9:18 -holes in the shield but we're not going to be nutting and bolting this the actual main Shield is just coming together here been dialing it in through
9:27 -many different versions I've just got the one here for the van got the bends bent in it as we need it so I'm
9:36 -just about to pass this off get someone to stud that for me and I'm going to get on the CAD software on the computer make the gasket then we're going to get the
9:44 -gasket machine up and running so I probably don't really have a lot of time to spend here talking to the camera I'm sure you guys are busy watching so I
9:52 -should get to the point really an important thing actually cup of tea it's getting cold on the side I bet better not let that go the way
10:00 -Charlotte won't be happy with me if I do and I think I owe it to myself to have a bit of a go on the Brew they're going to try and do it
10:07 -without me look don't know if it's a good idea or not but while they're doing that see if there's any biscuits
10:16 -left how we do the biscuits are out there are they that not sure that's a safe place for be I think you got a quite an appetite
10:25 -with them biscuits haven't you I saw when I cracked them open earlier you were straight in there like free three or four times like yeah biscuits she off me a chewing gum I said well actually
10:34 -cup of tea will gr nicely eat some more of them biscuits and that would seems like a far better idea to
10:41 -me so I think we're ready well I say you I think we're ready we're kind of ready stuff stuff is still in progress the production Shield is just still in
10:50 -progress as well we're going to start going ahead getting the um screw holes cuz we're kind of up against it for time here we would normally use our gasket as
10:59 -our template for making the holes but I don't know if it's going to be ready um and we about to do this right now but we actually do have our test shield which is
11:08 -made out of metal our test sort of Shield which will give us a great um which will give us a really good whole alignment position
11:15 -anyway so we can use that Danny can't we treat ourselves be nice make it easier even
11:23 -easier doesn't normally look like that Daddy does it it looks like there's a window ins theide that van big window yeah
11:31 -yeah other P how many arms you going to need for a job like this D at least
11:45 -four got the gasket on the go here on the CNC machine this should be ready in a in a minute or
11:52 -two k's looking after this sounds like Danny's attaching the studs to the um to
11:59 -the shield over that already shouting someone let's go and find out what's
12:06 -going on so because there damage on this one I
12:20 -don't know if you saw it earlier on where they attacked the low position deadlock that was on here there was damage which was sort of going all the
12:26 -way down just below this line so this extra large Shield of bars
12:36 -top so this extra large shielder bar is going to be like that line will be flush along the bottom there but just for this oneoff customer because we know there
12:44 -was a bit of damage just a few millimeters lower than that line what we did do was made I made The Jig and the
12:51 -tooling basically that it could accept a little bit of a extra like overhang on that corner and then I did actually and
12:59 -put an overhang on this one so it's just it's just going down a little bit lower to cover up that bit of damage okay end of the day 5:30 just now
13:08 -waiting for the customer to pick the van up we've just finished work on it we working flat out all day we put in some time ahead during this week we put in
13:16 -probably 6 or 8 hours already before he came with our development door we've never done a shield this big before I don't know how it's going to look yeah
13:23 -and sure if he was to leave the van for like a week we probably could paint it as well but trying to get this development done during one day is
13:30 -absolutely Mega so like the paint in it waiting for the paint to go off and then not getting wrecked with your fingers as you try and put the shield on not really
13:37 -an option on a on a like on the day repair like we're doing with this one hope you found this interesting please do give us a like please do subscribe to
Sign off
13:45 -our channel that way we can keep you up to date with the latest van security as things change and guess the last thing
13:51 -to say is thanks for watching

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
Attacks, shielding and repair

Related knowledge

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.