Protecting your belongings
- Written byStudent Communications
- Published date 28 November 2022
We know that your possessions are precious and that’s why we want to help our students feel confident in keeping them safe. Here are some practical tips for keeping what’s important to you, safe and secure.
Don’t text and walk
Phone theft is a sad reality of living in London, but there are ways to mitigate the risk. We recommend that you do not text while out walking as this will leave you more vulnerable to having your phone snatched. Being aware of your surroundings will put you in a much better position so that opportunistic thieves, often on bikes or mopeds, cannot catch you unawares.
Securely lock your bike up
Cycling is a healthy, affordable and sustainable way of travel that we encourage students to try. However, it’s important that you know how to properly lock up your bike to deter thieves.
- When storing your bike, lock the frame and both wheels to the cycle parking stand.
- Get your bike security marked and registered at BikeRegister or at Immobilise.
- Explore bike storage options with the UAL Cycle Storage Guide [PDF 35KB]
Don’t leave possessions unattended
A commonly seen issue at UAL is items being left unattended. Sometimes laptops, phones and ID cards are left unattended whilst their owner momentarily steps away, perhaps to use the bathroom or to buy something from the canteen. It’s important that students do not do this, even if they think they will only be away for a short time. It only takes a moment for an unattended item to be grabbed and it could be avoided by taking your stuff with you or buddying up with a friend to look after your belongings.
Insure what’s important to you
Whilst we can all take steps to manage the risks of theft, there is no fully guaranteed method that we can recommend to rule it out completely. With this in mind, we recommend students explore insurance options so that if you are to lose any of your valuables, you can at least be covered financially. The UAL Halls team have put together more information on insurance options.
For more information on looking after personal and UAL property, please explore the student rights and responsibilities section of our website. We also recommend reading the UAL Student Premises Access Policy to get a better understanding of the importance of looking after your ID card.
Reporting theft
- Report incidents of damage, trespass or crime through the University's Security Incident Reporting Form
- In an emergency, always call 999 and ask for the police. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you can use the Police textphone service 18000 or text them on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.