Defeating teen letterbox vandals

shedcoupe · 09-04-2011, 12:52 PM

From a boating site -

"Many years ago, my boss was frustrated that his home made crafted wooden letter box was broken by local teens during drunken trips home on Sunday mornings.

It was clear it was locals and he remade the box several times only to find it in pieces on the lawn again and again.

So one weekend he arranged to use the company workshop to craft a new box identical in appearance to the wooden boxes of the past but fabricated in solid steel (we had lots of steel to spare for such an important job). A welder did most of the work for a slab and it took a few more guys a BBQ and a slab to get the manpower to install the new box with a concrete base that would stop a Kenworth.

Per plan a few weekends latter a drunk teen was found at the base of the new box with a substantially broken foot. An ambulance was called the parent's paid for the trip to hospital and the father of the teenager was flooded with copies of bills for other letter boxes that had been damaged over the previous months.

At work we celebrated a moral victory. Occasionally I travel past that letterbox and even though my old boss moved on, our achievement stands and looks like it will last a few more teenagers, I still smile at the thought of that kid on the ground. Pity help the person that will one day remove that box, it took 4 men to lift it into position."

And -

"I had a mate who had a similar problem where his letterbox kept getting run over (frequently). This letterbox was on the side of the road (well back from the edge) and a few local lads thought it funny to continually knock it over.

We did the same thing with a length of railway track concreted into the ground. The letterbox won the following round. It folded the bullbar around it, pushed the radiator into the engine and the engine under the car. The railway iron was nearly 3 feet into the middle of the bonnet. Could have been dangerous, but there were trees closer to the edge of the road than the letterbox."

NB. This sort of thing is of course extremely bad, and unfair to drunk boys.

Fev · 09-04-2011, 12:59 PM

hahahah Gold!! Top marks for that. It's always good to hear ratty people getting their come-uppins!

deesun · 09-04-2011, 02:21 PM

Revenge is sweet.

JG65TE · 09-04-2011, 02:31 PM

back when i was a kid, we had plastic bins and the "hoons" would run em over and the old man got jack of buyin a new bin every week, so he filled it with bricks. Woke in the earlies to the biggest bang ever and out front was a kid with a bin under his car and not much front end left. tops trick.

**DJR-351** · 09-04-2011, 02:45 PM

yeah i remember reading that....

You like to sail do you...?

**fordomatic** · 09-04-2011, 02:47 PM

back when i was a kid in country victoria we used to have a local kid do doughnuts every weekend in the middle of the local roundabout. one of the farmers got jack of it and put star pickets in the roundabout and left about 2 inches of them sticking out. the following weekend old mate come back again but this time had his nice 35inch muddies ripped to shreds, never did it again.

Bucknaked · 09-04-2011, 03:15 PM

I had the same problem with kids tring to smash my letter box. I found it along with my neighbors box on the ground many times. So I sunk a star picket into the ground, bag of concrete and put the star picket through the letterbox pole. Mine is still standing and his continues to get knocked over a few times a year. I wonder how many bad ankles there are now

pauljh74 · 09-04-2011, 10:24 PM

The buggers are persistent - we had the top knocked off a solid home made timber letterbox a few times and the base ripped out - until we concreted it in. Eventually we bought an aluminium one and was ripped off at the base a few times. One of the nearby welders that did aluminium welding specialised in aircraft, so they were a little surprised when we turned up with a letterbox. Easy job compared to what they normally do. They'd usually do it for $20.

XB GS 351 Coupe · 09-04-2011, 10:39 PM

Love it pay back is a *****

**SSD-85** · 10-04-2011, 11:34 AM

Stories like this fill me with immense joy & satisfaction.

Whether its true or not, it doesnt matter because its amusing either way; My Dad was telling me that a few years back some roadworkers were getting sick of those temporary plastic barriers getting intentionally knocked around by motorists. So they decided to fill them with concrete. You can guess what happened to the cars...

chrisfpv · 10-04-2011, 12:36 PM

Brick letter boxes people, they're what you need.

**fordomatic** · 10-04-2011, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8-WORKN

Brick letter boxes people, they're what you need.

they push straight over 90% of the time

chrisfpv · 10-04-2011, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordomatic

they push straight over 90% of the time

**DJM83** · 10-04-2011, 03:10 PM

Love it, would have loved to see some footage of him kicking it

mr smith · 10-04-2011, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

From a boating site -

"Many years ago, my boss was frustrated that his home made crafted wooden letter box was broken by local teens during drunken trips home on Sunday mornings.

It was clear it was locals and he remade the box several times only to find it in pieces on the lawn again and again.

So one weekend he arranged to use the company workshop to craft a new box identical in appearance to the wooden boxes of the past but fabricated in solid steel (we had lots of steel to spare for such an important job). A welder did most of the work for a slab and it took a few more guys a BBQ and a slab to get the manpower to install the new box with a concrete base that would stop a Kenworth.

Per plan a few weekends latter a drunk teen was found at the base of the new box with a substantially broken foot. An ambulance was called the parent's paid for the trip to hospital and the father of the teenager was flooded with copies of bills for other letter boxes that had been damaged over the previous months.

At work we celebrated a moral victory. Occasionally I travel past that letterbox and even though my old boss moved on, our achievement stands and looks like it will last a few more teenagers, I still smile at the thought of that kid on the ground. Pity help the person that will one day remove that box, it took 4 men to lift it into position."

And -

"I had a mate who had a similar problem where his letterbox kept getting run over (frequently). This letterbox was on the side of the road (well back from the edge) and a few local lads thought it funny to continually knock it over.

We did the same thing with a length of railway track concreted into the ground. The letterbox won the following round. It folded the bullbar around it, pushed the radiator into the engine and the engine under the car. The railway iron was nearly 3 feet into the middle of the bonnet. Could have been dangerous, but there were trees closer to the edge of the road than the letterbox."

NB. This sort of thing is of course extremely bad, and unfair to drunk boys.

Sounds like my own story. Timber box was run over, then trashed so I fabricated one out of 6mm plate (Made to look like timber, with a rough hand painted finish) then concreted in with a 6 foot long 50mm steam pipe pole. Its still there 18 years later.
I remember we tested it out in the workshop with bits of timber and steel poles, just for a laugh.
The forman lived close by and he went for the nails poking out the bottom trick.

MAV50L · 10-04-2011, 04:53 PM

My old man did it years ago.
The local knob used to kick the letter box off every Saturday night with his mates so the old boy built a letter box out of 3/8 boiler plate and fitted the remains of the old timber letter box around it.
Next Saturday night comes and we heard the scream from where he kicked it while going past on his dirt bike , broke his ankle and foot and dropped the bike. The the old man dealt with him as well.
The guys mate rings the local cops as Dad gave him a flogging (he was serious trouble and things had been happening for about 12 months) , cops rock up and were happy that the extra injuries were from him falling off his bike (broken jaw , 3 broken ribs) and off to hospital he is taken.
Then they charged him with 3 counts of malicious damage from the other letter boxes he had done that night once he is out of hospital.

shedcoupe · 10-04-2011, 05:46 PM

A sparky told me a story about an incident many years ago.
There had been a spate of knicker-theft from washing left out overnight in the neighbourhood, so he set up some silky bait and connected a sensor mechanism to a huge flash-making camera light, a camera, and a monster electric bell recently removed from a fire station.
Sure enough there was a flash and a scream that night.
The camera didn't work, but there was a trail of brown digestive waste product leading from the washing line to the back fence to follow. Over the fence was a large cactus garden, and a trail of blood to follow to a kid's bush cubby / hideout where the cops worked out who it was from some stuff there.
The poor 19-year-old 'kid' was a bit 'slow' (ie. a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock) as we used to say, and lived with his mum.

mickyyyy · 11-04-2011, 08:38 AM

Love your work mate!!!!!!

Can just picture u standing over the kid saying u ok LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL but laughing ur head off inside hahaha