Pay row forces security rethink

5:07pm Friday 9th May 2008

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A SECURITY firm which claims to have cracked crime on an industrial estate in Chippenham said it may have to pull out as companies are refusing to pay for the service.

Security 2000, owned and run by Ray Redmore, supplies a night watchman for about 30 firms on the Bumpers Farm Industrial Estate.

Mr Redmore said crime had been reduced to virtually nothing on the estate over the past six years, thanks to their service.

But while about 120 companies benefit from having the guard, who keeps an eye on the estate for a 12-hour period every night, only a quarter of the businesses actually pay for the service.

Mr Redmore said a CCTV camera at the entrance of the Chippenham estate and fitted to his security hut records all traffic going in and out.

This measure has helped combat crime, while the guard acts as a further deterrent.

Mr Redmore said: "We thought when we started we would attract more people to sign up and help us cover the cost.

"We ideally wanted to be able to afford two guards as we have had two incidents when our guard has been attacked while at work.

"The guard on duty from 7pm until 7am, seven days a week, patrols all the companies that pay us to look out for them.

"If an alarm sounds they usually have an alarm monitor too to alert the guard."

Mr Redmore said since 1993 his company, which also offers protection to sites in Avonmouth, near Bristol and Bowerhill, near Melksham, have helped with the arrest of 72 criminals.

The businessman, who lives in north Somerset, set up the business after working as a security guard in the early 1990s.

He said: "I was earning £2 an hour and wasn't impressed with the service the companies were providing. So I wanted to set up my own business."

He said the security service provided value for money and said there were a number of crimes on the estate before their arrival.

"There was one incident where some kids had set fire to a wheelbarrow and locked it in a utility room," he said.

"The fire had then spread to the building next door.

"I don't know if we would have been able to stop this, but nothing like that has happened since we have been there.

"We are not making any money there, just covering the costs of hiring the staff and keeping it running.

"I am reluctant to let down the people who have been supporting us as I have committed myself to this. We were invited over there by firms suffering from crime."