Ive popped our Facebook post on here as an example of how Alympic Locksmiths do really carry out 24hr emergency Locksmith issues and always try to help if possible. Our Customers had called other ”24hr Lockmiths/ National Locksmiths” to be met with either no replies or exorbitant prices! Trust your Local recommended Locksmith and receive good service at a price that wont hurt…. please read

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Posted by Mark Alympic · 5 hours ago · Edited

4am Call out to apartment’s by 5 Ways Birmingham. …. We attended after customers had called a couple of other so called 24hr Locksmiths leaving them frustrated at no replies? They were grateful to get back in after a night at Gatecrasher upon which they lost there keys….. We even applied a student discount after seeing Id Card which really cheered them up…. All in a days work errr I mean nights work? Well whichever another satisfied customer  x — at Gate Crasher

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May 2014 – Alympic Reviews!

Alympic Locksmiths 07737679973 shared a link.

Alym’pic’ Locksmiths has just received another great review on FreeIndex – The UK Business Review Sitehttp://t.co/k5wjvWaDuV

2 reviews from free index

Laura Clynes
Birmingham
… See more

Alym’pic’ Locksmiths

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Alympic Locksmiths ‘pick locks not…

December 13 – Security Lego Video by West Midlands Police!

Article below by Steve Palumbo

Originally this was going to be an article on lockpicking for beginners… however the research for that was doing awful things to this author’s underlying paranoia disorder so – interesting facts on locksmithing! Locksmiting is a fairly old practice that requires skill, experience, and a trustworthy nature. As previously mentioned there are a lot of people out there who want to pick locks and their need for information has been met – extensively. That is why locksmiths tend to be, well let’s look at fact number one:

It is the custom of locksmiths to undergo an apprenticeship.
That said you can also take college courses, be trained on the job, or go to prison and learn it as a trade in some countries !!!! I don’t understand that last one either ? The reason for apprenticeships is that besides the knowledge passed along, you also have a screening of students to make sure they aren’t a crime wave waiting to happen. Another part of that is locksmiths are generally “CRB” checked which is legalese for “not a crook guys seriously”. Then again when even an apprentice is able to defeat most typical security measures you can’t really be too careful.

They don’t want competition.
That isn’t really too surprising since most people – most businesses don’t want to deal with competitors. The amusing or interesting aspect of this comes up in that people tend to call multiple locksmiths and if they’re all timely in response… it can be awkward. It is estimated that 3 out of 5 locksmiths will encounter this situation at least once. Getting locked out is of course serious business, but try not to panic and call every smith in the book.

A good locksmith can duplicate near any key.
Yes that includes any keys you might have that say random things like, “do not duplicate”. With the right skill set a locksmith can easily duplicate most keys – something to remember the next time a dealer claims only they can do so. That said if you’re looking for something with more security most locksmiths recommend hitting up a hardware store and getting high-security locks that come with keys impossible to copy. Of course a trained locksmith may not need a key if your dead bolt is faulty.

Locksmithing combines the skills of carpenter, mechanic, machinist, and security expert.
This isn’t too surprising considering in the course of their work they need to understand the mechanics of various locks, assess how secure a lock may be, remove or repair locks, and/or copy out keys. Of course the particulars of any one locksmith’s skill set will be determined by their niche because –

Locksmiths are defined by their particular space in the market leading to significant differences in skill sets.
It makes sense when you think about it after all – a locksmith specializing in residential service will be geared toward carpentry since they have to do more outfitting and/or replacement jobs. Someone dealing with industrial locksmithing is often times geared more to technology while someone specializing in electronic safety will be very focused on the security aspect.

There are actual safe crackers in the world.
– security aspects and safe cracking are like right next to each other. Sadly it is nothing like the movies so that is just really unfortunate for all those potential thieves and Mission Impossible fans out there. The art of safe cracking demands information of several kinds of safes, metallurgy, a keen grasp of digital technology, the ability to operate complex drilling equipment, and much more – that just to get started never mind trying to master it.

And that’s all I got… for now. by Steve Palumbo. Thanx Steve.

Safety Tips For Elderly relatives or neighbours- Reduce the risk of them becoming a Victim!

Thankfully, crimes against elderly people are relatively uncommon, but in any event such crimes can be very disturbing.

If you have elderly relatives or neighbours you can help them to make their homes safer and reduce the risk of them becoming a victim.

Just by giving a little of your time you can reassure them, especially if they live alone. You could visit them regularly and even offer to fit additional locks to windows and doors, door viewers and chains for extra security or call upon ourselves we can provide home safety check repair replace upgrade or just advise.

If you are elderly yourself, you need to be aware of your personal safety and take precautions to avoid danger at home and while you are out.

Protect your possessions by securing your home and marking your property.

Keep an eye out for the welfare of your neighbours. If you spend a lot of time at home your watchfulness can be invaluable to your community. You might consider joining your local Neighbourhood Watch scheme. Make sure to report any suspicious behaviour to the police at once.

Be wary of unexpected visitors who, for example, arrive at your door offering to make repairs on something they have noticed needs fixing. Before having any work done on your home seek the advice of someone you trust and get two or three quotes from other firms first, or simply look at our reviews on http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(alym-pic-locksmiths)_127538.htm

In some areas older people can get help to pay for locks and chains on their windows and doors. To find out if there is a scheme where you live, ask either your local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, the council’s Housing Department or the Neighbourhood Policing Team at your local policing unit.

Remember that even the best security equipment is useless unless it is used. Be sure to always lock up properly, even if you are just popping out for a few minutes.

Oct 2013- MORE DIY HOME SECURITY TIPS

Tips & advice
Here are some tips and advice you may find useful

General

If you are reading this page, then you obviously take security seriously. Add our telephone number to your mobile phone now under ‘L’ for Locksmith as you never know when you will need it! 07737679973

Doors
If a key is not turning smoothly in the lock and you are putting in too much effort then something is wrong. Call us to check this out for you before it’s too late. Fixing or adjusting a lock early is much cheaper than replacing a damaged lock beyond repair. Also you don’t want to be locked out in the rain!
If you have a UPVC door and you are struggling to engage the locking hooks and /or bolts when you raise the handle or attempt to turn the key, it is more than likely that your door is simply out of line. This can happen over time or due to a change in the weather. Often we can make adjustments to the door for you so that it all operates smoothly once again.
If you have a wooden front door with a 5-lever mortice deadlock, use it! Don’t just rely on your Yale lock. First of all your door is not as secure as it should be, which makes it easier for a burglar to break in. Secondly, in the event of a burglary, your insurance company may not pay out if the 5-lever British Standard insurance approved lock you claimed you had was not used.
A UPVC door is not locked simply by lifting the handle. The handle can be lowered from the outside which retracts the hooks and/or bolts that come out of the strip in the door. You must use a key to lock a UPVC door. Check your door is locked with a key whenever you go to bed.

Windows
Always make sure you lock your windows – even when set to ‘open lock’. If your windows do not have locks built into the handles, add some locks.
For those odd summer days when you need to open your windows, fit window restrictors so that you can leave the room with your window open knowing that the gap is too small for a small human (even child) to fit through.
It is highly recommended to ensure all first floor windows near (or accessible from) a flat roof have locks – and you use them!
If you are rushing out the door late for an appointment and you notice you’ve left an upstairs window open, don’t assume it’ll be OK to leave it because you will be back shortly. It’s worth taking that extra minute to close and lock the window compared to the trauma and everything that comes with it after a break-in. An insurance company may not even pay out if they find out the window was left open while the property was unattended.

Outbuildings and Garden
Use high quality strong locks on sheds and garages to protect your garden equipment, bikes and other valuables. Tools sitting around can be used to help a burglar gain access.
Don’t leave a ladder lying around in the garden or the side of the house. You must lock it down or it could be used to break into your (or your neighbours) home.

Social Media
It’s nice to go on Facebook or Twitter and let all your friends know you are in a ‘First-Class Lounge’ or ‘Up the Eiffel Tower’, but you are also letting everyone know your house is empty and will be for a while. Do you trust everyone in your friends list? Do you actually know all the people in your friends list or those following you on Twitter? Think about it!

Home Security: Tips, Ideas & DIY Projects
We should all feel safe and sound in our homes. While many of us would love the idea of a 24-7 monitored security service, cost is often a barrier to getting a system installed. And on top of equipment and installation fees, who wants to pay yet another monthly fee? We highlight several simple techniques and tips to beef up your home security without spending an arm and a leg.

Lighting is Key
It’s no coincidence that dark, dimly lit spaces are downright scary and whisper menacingly of crimes committed in shadowy spaces. Brighten up your home’s exterior with some lighting to help deter crime. Whether it’s cosmetic lighting to beautify your home or motion sensor security lights, give that potential criminal a second thought about coming into your home lest they be seen.

MORE LIGHTING ON your home
• Outdoor Lighting: Light up darkened pathways and entries
• Do You Leave Your Porch Light On?
• The Solar Powered Security Light
• Affordable Stairway Security Lighting Solution

Upgrade Your Locks
Many older homes have locks that are dead simple to pick or just jimmy open. Sometimes the surrounding trim around the door is rotted and easily crumbles, or the chain bolt will simply pull out of the wall. Spend a little money on a new lock and feel safe and secure that the bad guys can’t get in without a key (or fingerprint, or pass code, etc.).

MORE LOCKS ON your home
• The Un-bumpable and Self Re-Keying Deadbolt
• Keyless Fingerprint /heatScan Door Lock

Install Security Cameras
Cameras are readily available. Whether they are designed specifically for security camera purposes or a simple internet operated webcam, they’re cheap and easy enough for your average homeowner to incorporate into their home security plan. Bear in mind that unless these cameras are being monitored (by yourself or a security company), no one’s going to be able to do anything about that bad guy breaking in, except that he/she will hopefully think twice knowing that their caught on tape.

MORE SECURITY CAMERAS ON your home
• DIY Security Cams Offer Peace of Mind While You Vacation
• Improve Safety With Low Light Wireless Security Cameras

Get A Security System Kit
You can buy kits that come with several different components, whether it’s motion or entry sensors or keypads and remotes. Prices usually start in the low hundreds, but keep in mind that if you want monitoring you’ll have to find a system that offers the service.

MORE SECURITY SYSTEMS your home
• Home Security System
• DIY Apartment Protection Without The Wires

When All Else Fails, Fake It
If it’s just the threat of being caught that keeps the criminals at bay, what’s the difference between a real £100 camera or a fake £10 one? That’s the idea behind fake security systems (some of them even blink like a real camera). Surprise, you’re on camera, or not, but you might be, so you better not rob this house.

September 2013

Don’t believe the Hype – get professional security advice about Lock Snapping!One of the issues surrounding Cylinder Snapping ( a worrying trend in burglaries) is how the cylinders are specified, yes you should be looking for a Sold Secure SS312 Diamond level cylinder, or failing that a 3* Kitemarked cylinder, but the other issue is how the cylinder is specified and fitted. The more of the cylinder that is accessible, the more prone it is to snapping, and a properly fitted cylinder (with no external overhang) will provide more protection against snapping, so size of the cylinder is vital too. Yet more reasons why changing locks isn’t a do it yourself job!
The cylinder should not protrude more than 3mm from the handle and ideally should be completely flush.

Don’t accept anything other than a correctly sized cylinder when having your locks changed and certainly don’t fall for the line that “the fact the cylinder is protruding is a special feature to help you feel where to put the key when it’s dark”!

Believe it or not this is what one homeowner was told, luckily one of our approved companies spotted it and highlighted the homeowner to the danger this other so called “locksmith” had put him in.

So the bottom line is; don’t believe the hype. There are no special features for cylinders that meant they have to stick out from the handle! If they do stick out, they need changing. Phone Alympic locksmiths and give them a call now to make sure your security is up to scratch.

August 2013

SoooOO thats how they can afford massive adverts in the Yellow Pages?
I’m sorry but I can’t sympathise with people that pay £290 to have a euro cylinder changed because they were locked out.
DON’T RING THE BIG NATIONAL COMPANIES!!!!!
By using a local locksmith you would probably still have £200 of that money to spend in the pub tonight!!!!! — at Alympic it could be even more! 🙂

July 2013

Locksmiths – Do We Still Need Them?
There are hardly any people who give the appropriate respect for the old and classic professionals such as blacksmiths, who make everyday items as well as keeping the old tradition of crafting weaponry alive, or locksmiths, who are always there for us, keeping us and what is precious to us safe. In reality, these men live in the shadows of the bug economical evolution, suffocated by what seems to be the mechanical era. Yet, whenever we need someone to find a way into our home or car after we have locked ourselves out, we call a locksmith. This proves that, even though mechanics and high-scale production of locks are two of the main ingredients, we cannot go on without the people who are attentive and cautious, the locksmiths.
They are what made locksmiths  famous and used from the beginning. With their crafty hands, these men were able to keep anything preserved and secured. There were times when households didn’t need to have a guarding dog and all that was needed was a simple lock. Naturally, those times have passed. Even the dog is already replaced by automated surveillance cameras and movement detectors. And yet, locksmiths are still there, in every neighbourhood, keeping us safe and giving us the opportunity to go with our mistakes unnoticed. After all, if one locks her or himself outside, it’s a lot easier to just call the local locksmith to open the door for them than having the system ring, alarming an entire little army about what they’ve done wrong.

June 2013

History of Yale

Yale is one of the oldest international brands in the world and probably the best-known name in the locking industry. The Yale history captures major innovations that have marked the evolution not just of Yale, but of the entire locking industry.

Beginnings
Yale has its roots in colonial America. The Yale family decided to emigrate to the New World from North Wales. A few generations later, about 1840, Linus Yale Sr., began designing and manufacturing a series of innovative, high security locks at his Yale Lock Shop in Newport, New York. He specialized in expensive, handmade bank locks.

Pioneer innovation
Linus Yale Sr.’s son joined his father in the business in 1850 and perfected and patented his father’s pin tumbler cylinder lock and became the considered locking expert of his time. In 1862, Yale Jr. introduced the Monitor Bank Lock, marking the transition in bank locks from key locks to dial or combination locks. The principles, embodied in his Monitor Lock, are now standard in combination locks throughout the USA.

Yale Jr.
Yale Jr. was also experimenting with a lock based on a mechanism first employed by the ancient Egyptians over 4,000 years ago. Granted patents in 1861 and 1865, Yale finally succeeded in creating his most important invention – the Yale cylinder lock. Linus Yale Jr. transformed the locking industry forever with his many breakthrough inventions.

Worldwide expansion
Relying on Yale patents, Yale’s sterling name and sheer ingenuity, Yale Jr. and his colleague Henry Towne established the Yale & Towne company in 1868, at the time employing 35 people.

The company grew and broadened its scope with manually operated chain hoists, battery powered platform trucks and in 1879 a line of padlocks was introduced. Yale & Towne purchased Norton door closer company and H. and T. Vaughan Ltd.

In the early 20th century, the company expanded worldwide and employed more than 12,000 people. Throughout the 20th century, purchases, acquisitions and joint ventures have made Yale locks well-known worldwide.

In August 2000 Yale was purchased by the ASSA ABLOY Group, and has since then been an important part of the global leader in door opening solutions..

May 2013

The locksmith and the prayer rug.
Once there lived a metalworker, a locksmith, who was unjustly accused of crimes and was sentenced to a deep, dark prison. After he had been there awhile, his wife who loved him very much went to the King and beseeched him that she might at least give him a prayer rug so he could observe his five prostrations every day.

The King considered that a lawful request, so he let the woman bring her husband a prayer rug. The prisoner was thankful to get the rug from his wife, and every day he faithfully did his prostrations on the rug. Much later, the man escaped from prison, and when people asked him how he got out, he explained that after years of doing his prostrations and praying for deliverance from the prison, he began to see what was right in front of his nose.

One day he suddenly saw that his wife had woven into the prayer rug the pattern of the lock that imprisoned him. Once he realized this and understood that all the information he needed to escape was already in his possession, he began to make friends with his guards. He also persuaded the guards that they all would have a better life if they cooperated and escaped the prison together.

They agreed since, although they were guards, they realized that they were in prison, too. They also wished to escape, but they had no means to do so. So the locksmith and his guards decided on the following plan: they would bring him pieces of metal, and he would fashion useful items from them to sell in the marketplace. Together they would amass resources for their escape, and from the strongest piece of metal they could acquire, the locksmith would fashion a key.

One night, when everything had been prepared, the locksmith and his guards unlocked the prison and walked out into the cool night where his beloved wife was waiting for him. He left the prayer rug behind so that any other prisoner who was clever enough to read the pattern of the rug could also make his escape. Thus, the locksmith was reunited with his loving wife, his former guards became his friends, and everyone lived in harmony.
Short story hope you enjoyed it? Alympic locksmiths did. 🙂