An electrician who was left out of pocket after £5,000 ($6,000) of gear was stolen from his van has struck upon a novel way of stopping thieves in future - he's wired the van up to give any potential intruders a 1,000 volt shock.
Ray Taylor had a whole heap of expensive gear nicked from his van over the course of two years, but eventually decided he'd had enough, so decided to put his skills to use protecting his van.
Remarkably, the van has been checked over by police and they've told him it's completely legal.
Shocking, isn't it?
The 61-year-old spark from Wolverhampton fitted the electrical system to accompany a siren that he already had installed in his Citroën Dispatch van.
He hopes that if the loud siren isn't enough to deter any would-be thieves, a sharp jolt of current through them definitely will be.
He told The Sun: "They'll get a zap."
Well, yeah. They sure will.
Basically, Ray's rigged up the van so that a 'live' door handle will send a shock through anyone who tries to break into the vehicle. On top of that, the burgeoning burglars will be hit with Ray's siren and two sound bombs, totalling up to a combined ruckus of 120 decibels.
They'll know someone's onto them, in short. That's as loud as a jumbo jet taking off.
Ray continued: "It's solved all my problems, so I can sleep easy.
"The shock isn't going to do any lasting damage, but it will make you jump a bit."
Ever the savvy businessman, the enterprising electrician has also copyrighted his design and will fit them to other vehicles at a price of £380 ($460). He created the design from a 1,000 volt fly zapper that connects to a metal plate in the van's rear door.
Through careful positioning you can be sure that the charge is isolated only to the handle, meaning that the rest of the van is completely safe.
The sound bombs, zapper, and a strobe light are all controlled by a switch in the van's main cabin. Police said that he could use the system, provided that he has a warning sign on the van, which he now does.
If you still try to rob a van that has a big 'Danger Live Terminals' written on it, you probably deserve what you get.
That said, West Midlands Police did say that - whilst it is technically legal - they wouldn't endorse using tactics like this to deter thieves.
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