Almost one in three homeowners have been the victims of theft from their home, according to Co-op Insurance.
To help stop this, a lock picking expert from Birmingham took to TikTok to share a physical demonstration on why keeping your key in the lock of your front door might actually save you from a break in.
Known online as the Brummie Lock Picker, he strarted the video holding a lock in his hands in front of the camera with the key slightly turned. He showed viewers how it helped the lock from being picked as the bolt inside the lock moved so it wasn’t possible to pick it.
If you instead have the key in the hole straight, without turning it, it’s easier for someone to pick the lock by just pushing the key out with another key that fits in the keyhole.
“If someone wants to pick your lock open, before they can do, they need to push the key out,” he explained. “If [the key] is straight and someone’s got a key, it doesn’t have to be the same key as long as it fits into the hole, then all they need to do is put the key in and push it.
“Now see how that popped out the other side. Then you remove the key. And if you picked it, [the bolt] can be turned.”
When this is done, they can then go on to pick the lock to get it open.
While the lock smith did give out some valuable advice, some people took to the comments to say it wouldn’t be enough to prevent a break in.
One person said: “And what is the thief breaks the glass and takes the key from the inside to open the door from the outside?”
“How many thieves pick a door lock anyway. surely a higher chance to get spotted as it takes longer than say doing a window in,” another user wrote.
Some also brought up the added fire safety of having the key already be in the door, saying: “People tell me to take my key out of my door, but having been in a gas explosion & fire, those critical seconds that are saved by the key already being in the door are vital & life-saving.”
