Decorator Buys Dummy To Prevent Van Theft. Neighbours Think It’s A Dead Body
Posted: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021
A decorator from London who purchased a dummy to sit in the front of his van as a form of theft prevention has had his neighbours call the emergency services, as they believed there was an unresponsive - and potentially dead - person in the front seat! Having been a victim of tool and van theft in the past, Joel Bardall, 37, decided that apart from using traditional security and theft prevention techniques he would try something a bit more ‘innovative’ as a scare tactic. The "life-like" dummy". Image Credit: Joel Bardall Speaking about his idea, the painter said "Recently, I made a ‘dummy’ of a tradesman that I’m keeping in my van to hopefully keep van tool thieves away". “Slightly mental? Yes... but if it does the job & stops an opportunist thieving scum bag bastard from breaking into my van then job done”. However, one thing the painter didn’t bank on was the potential affect the dummy might have on concerned members of the public who might notice a motionless, stiff, life-like person in the front seat of the van. Confused neighbours calling the police. Image Credit: Joel Bardall And this was the situation that played out this week after the painter’s wife peered out the window one evening and noticed a few of their neighbours had surrounded the van looking confused and concerned. “2 neighbours were stood by my van, where I normally park it, with one on the phone & looking concerned. My wife started laughing saying ‘there’s 2 women by your van... I better make sure they realise it’s not real’”. Well turns out her intuition was right as the neighbours believed it was a dead body! “They’d spotted it the other day in the same position and thought someone had died cause he’s not moving and they were calling the police & ambulance, knocking on the window shouting ‘Hello... are you OK?’”. My surprise guest on the @FixRadioUK takeover of the @TRADE_decorator Festival made his debut at work today... Fortunately the decorator and his wife got outside just in time to explain the situation much to the amusement of their neighbours. Oh and we know what you’re thinking and yes the dummy does have a name, Joel has decided to call him “Gary”. Joel is the host of the Painting and Decorating Show on Fix Radio. You can listen to his show every Tuesday from 1PM or listen to his podcast here: 
Can watch the official debut from last night here too 😉 https://t.co/XHsgoVCFL6 pic.twitter.com/PlioYIWPjp
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