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  1. #1
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    Default Hatton Gardens programme.

    Anyone following it ? What do you think ? First episode was on last night (Monday) and continues for the next three nights.....The wall drilling looked pretty realistic to me.

  2. #2
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    just watched the first episode, at least they are showing proper safe deposit locks and lockers as opposed to some of the films I have seen. The core drilling seems realistic enough although probably speeded up a bit.

  3. #3
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    Just watched the full series of four on ITV Hub. As a non professional I thought it was brilliant. How much of the reality they’ve shown is debatable because every episode had a disclaimer saying characters had been changed/added for effect and various other things. It was brilliant to watch but the lovable rogue characters playing the parts took something away from reality. The real guys were career criminals. They were certainly not the feeble pensioners portrayed in reality. Some which had done time for the Brinks Matt, and another famous robbery. The main characters had actually been on trial for murder of an undercover policeman who was stabbed to death in one of their gardens. They pleaded it was self defence saying that they didn’t know he was a policeman and thought he was an intruder. Amazingly they were acquitted! But a good drama to watch without a doubt.

  4. #4
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    [QUOTE=Warren63;31133]Just watched the full series of four on ITV Hub. As a non professional I thought it was brilliant.

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    Warren, yes this was a much superior representation of the facts than the usual docudrama. The subsequent programme on the Friday showed that this was not a victimless crime and even those renters who were insured stood to lose their most precious family heirlooms.



    In 1983 there was an attack on the Safe Deposit in Lloyds Bank in nearby Holborn Circus. The method by which the vault door was opened was never disclosed and subsequently at least two renters sued the Bank, Chubb Alarms, and the Chubb Lock & Safe Company for £460,000 and £125,000 for the loss of jewellery and gold coins. (Guardian, July 7, 1987)



    In the Hatton Garden room with a 3½ inch Chubb Anti Arc door and 20 inch Tangbar reinforced concrete walls there were 999 lockers installed, but only about half of which were rented. Of these, 73 were forced open 29 of which were without contents. How fortunate for many that only two men entered the room.

    This vault which I think was built in the 1954 follows the standards of the time when the recommended thickness of reinforced concrete to match doors were 18’’ for 3½” strongroom doors. There was another recommendation however.



    “In some cases it might be advisable to use a stronger wall construction than necessary for the door initially installed to allow for developments in attack or increase in the value of the target during the life of the building. A new door can be fitted with greater ease than a wall can be strengthened”


  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by safeman View Post
    In the Hatton Garden room with a 3½ inch Chubb Anti Arc door and 20 inch Tangbar reinforced concrete walls there were 999 lockers installed, but only about half of which were rented. Of these, 73 were forced open 29 of which were without contents. How fortunate for many that only two men entered the room.

    This vault which I think was built in the 1954 follows the standards of the time when the recommended thickness of reinforced concrete to match doors were 18’’ for 3½" strongroom doors”
    Safeman, the Hatton Gardens deposit door was a fair bit thicker than a 3.5 inch branch bank door, from memory it had two steps to the doorplate so would have been 7 or 8 inches at a guess.
    IIRC there was a basic 3.5 or 4 inch branch type door adjacent to the main deposit door from photos.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Huw Eastwood View Post
    Safeman, the Hatton Gardens deposit door was a fair bit thicker than a 3.5 inch branch bank door, from memory it had two steps to the doorplate so would have been 7 or 8 inches at a guess.
    IIRC there was a basic 3.5 or 4 inch branch type door adjacent to the main deposit door from photos.
    So we’re the walls full of rebar too? Couldn’t really tell by the holes drilled and can’t remember them mentioning it! It was one hell of a drill they used. It’s hard to believe that they went to all that meticulous planning, and then simply went to Machine Mart to buy a new hydraulic pump in his everyday used Mercedes! It leaves you to wonder if they would’ve been caught if the cabinets hadn’t been bolted in, and they had successfully done the job 1st time round.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Warren63 View Post
    So we’re the walls full of rebar too? Couldn’t really tell by the holes drilled and can’t remember them mentioning it! It was one hell of a drill they used. It’s hard to believe that they went to all that meticulous planning, and then simply went to Machine Mart to buy a new hydraulic pump in his everyday used Mercedes! It leaves you to wonder if they would’ve been caught if the cabinets hadn’t been bolted in, and they had successfully done the job 1st time round.
    The walls of the real vault would more than likely have had either Chubbs spiral Tangbar or their interwoven mattress reinforcement as opposed to just basic structural rebar, or at least it should have had.

    Don't know what they portrayed in the series as I haven't watched it TBH, rarely bother with 'based on true story' stuff as like you said they always distort stuff and gloss it up to make 'good viewing' for the masses.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Huw Eastwood View Post
    Safeman, the Hatton Gardens deposit door was a fair bit thicker than a 3.5 inch branch bank door, from memory it had two steps to the doorplate so would have been 7 or 8 inches at a guess.
    IIRC there was a basic 3.5 or 4 inch branch type door adjacent to the main deposit door from photos.
    So we’re the walls full of rebar too? Couldn’t really tell by the holes drilled and can’t remember them mentioning it! It was one hell of a drill they used. It’s hard to believe that they went to all that meticulous planning, and then simply went to Machine Mart to buy a new hydraulic pump in his everyday used Mercedes! It leaves you to wonder if they would’ve been caught if the cabinets hadn’t been bolted in, and they had successfully done the job 1st time round.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Warren63 View Post
    So we’re the walls full of rebar too? Couldn’t really tell by the holes drilled and can’t remember them mentioning it! It was one hell of a drill they used. It’s hard to believe that they went to all that meticulous planning, and then simply went to Machine Mart to buy a new hydraulic pump in his everyday used Mercedes! It leaves you to wonder if they would’ve been caught if the cabinets hadn’t been bolted in, and they had successfully done the job 1st time round.

    Warren, I now realise that I was wrong in thinking this was a 3½ inch door. Oldlock suggested way back that it looked like a Chubb Treasury MkII.
    When the Flying Squad contacted me at the time regarding the room all that I could tell them was that Nicholsons' of Leeds built all the rooms for Chubbs at the time and that the security reinforcement would almost certainly be twisted sections of Tangbar. This was borne out by seeing the cores. In the building situation there would have been no requirement for structural rebar although in hindsight it would have been more appropriate for the risk such as consideration of subsequent developments in attack methods and values in the lifetime of the vault etc.

  10. #10
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    Here are a couple of images of the Hatton Garden vault door showing its thickness --

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    There is a second, thinner door nearby --

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