Metrolocks Blog
The Place to Be for Fun and Interesting Locksmith Articles
Have fun browsing through our selection of blog articles. We recommend the locksmith case studies, since they showcase the cool solutions we can implement for you.
Proud new members of INTERKEY
Metrolocks has just been accepted as a member of Interkey, a prestigious international key-cutting association. What is Interkey? Interkey is a Europe-wide key-cutting and security trade association for serious and qualified professionals. It has been around since...
What’s the deal with copying car keys?
You may have already read that we at Metrolocks can now copy car keys! It's big news for us, and we're proud to have mastered the process. But how exactly does it work? What's the procedure? Is it safe, is it legal? In this blog post, we'll answer all those questions....
Locksmith Case Study: Snifters stolen from the board room
Problem: The board-room of this oil exploration company had a little annexe, for a coffee machine, cups, plates, cutlery - and a relatively basic range of spirits. The board meetings tended to be sober affairs, most of the time. Alas, the slow, but...
AskPorter: “the AI manager & concierge for any space”
We recently attended a pre-Christmas party with one of our many lovely customers. A co-invitee was AskPorter. AskPorter is an ingenious AI-based concierge service that deals with all kinds of property-management issues digitally, thereby saving property management...
Locksmith Case Study: Bonanza: 7 identical lockouts in a day!
Problem: This one day in January turned into a peculiar day for Metrolocks: We fielded 7 cases of people accidentally leaving the key stuck on the inside of their main door when leaving.With many Banham locks and with uPVC doors, this then prevents the...
Locksmith Case Study: Cutting corners to lower the cost…
Problem: An elderly lady had lost a set of her keys and wanted the locks changed, in order to feel safe again. She had 2 locks on the front door and 3 rear doors. Her main problem was a financial one, she needed the locksmith call-out done on a budget....
Locksmith Case Study: Uninvited neighbours frolicking in the roof garden
Problem: This apartment block management company had recently been awarded the contract for a 50 unit modern block of flats. The block sported a very attractive roof garden, which turned out to be the envy of the neighbourhood. After a while tenants...
Locksmith Case Study: Where style and hoodies clash
Problem: This block was in a socio-demographically improving area. The block's management board decided to capitalise on that and to fit video intercom system, to replace their current clapped-out audio intercom. Occasional vandalism had been a problem in...
“You’re nicked!”: When the Fuzz interrupt your licit locksmithing
We were recently ordered on a repossession call-out by a bailiff. Repossessions only happen once the bailiff has obtained a High Court order to allow the job to take place. Since it's tough to evict people when they're in the building, a lot of repossessions (or...
Locksmith Case Study: Yeah, sure, these students were ‘studying’ at 2 a.m…
Problem: This London university runs its campus buildings on a very tight budget. In the event of a night-time lockout, for instance, a student, unable to enter his own room, would simply be given a different room for the night, and the maintenance staff...
Locksmith Case Study: Why also older people love our locksmiths
Problem: The staff at the day-care centre for the local elderly knew a lot of the trials and tribulations of the unassisted living of many of their clients. Their woes were many, tradesmen were one them. As the centre's clients were all locally based, the...
Locksmith Case Study: The tough men of the night: bailiffs
Problem: This bailiff firm had contracts with 3 London Boroughs to collect unpaid rates from commercial clients. Those locksmiths' call-outs usually happen at night. The bailiff had ongoing problems finding locksmiths who were able to turn up reliably, on...
Metrolocks now does car keys!
After acquiring a tonne of specialist equipment, and after a day of intense training, we can now cut car keys! That's right: we can make spare copies of most types of car key. It's generally quite quick with us: the average time taken is about ten minutes from start...
Locksmith Case Study: Having a hard hat’s not so hard
Problem: Building sites are full of emergency work for locksmiths companies. This particular building site in Bow in East London was no exception. Due to one of their site supervisors being inattentive, the management had 6 different tool chests to force...
Locksmith Case Study: Wow, building managers can be a demanding lot!
Problem: This particular lady was employed to manage a large London office block. Office blocks can engender enormous amounts of locksmith work. Her requirements in 2014 so far were indeed multi-facetted: 1) Masterkey suites, extend old ones, supply and...
Changing Key Registration
If you're here, you're probably trying to change the registration details of your Metrolocks EVVA key. Once the key is registered, only the registered person(s) can authorise the cutting of new keys. This allows you to control the amount of keys that get made. Click...
Why is my intercom not working?
If you're reading this, the chances are you're having trouble with your intercom system.This article will give you an explanation of what intercom systems are meant to be able to do. It's not hugely complicated: any intercom needs to be able to do at least four...
Locksmith Case Study: Buying keys: not just a few, but THOUSANDS!
Problem: A chain of supermarkets was looking to establish mobility scooter clubs at its outlets. Disabled repeat shoppers would no longer have to queue at a service desk to ask for a scooter key, they would simply be given a key each, to permanently keep....
Locksmith Case Study: Doomsday has arrived: the masterkey is nowhere to be found!
Problem: The unthinkable had happened: The masterkey was nowhere to be found. It wasn't in that much use anyway: most residents' doors were open most of the time, but the masterkey gave easy access to some secure cabinets and to a storage room for...
Locksmith Case Study: A care home becomes hard to run when the tenants are on the run!
Problem: As is common in care homes, this particular one had a problem with some of their mainly bedbound residents suddenly walking out of the main door. A front door in a care home needs to allow for easy egress in case of an emergency, but residents...
Locksmith Case Study: Not all visits by strangers are unwelcome. Take carers, for example…
Problem: Home carers need easy access to their clients' homes, simply because the clients can't always open the door to let their carer in. There are many solutions, at times the client's doors are simply open, neighbours act as keyholders, keys are put...
Copying Gate Remotes/Gate Fobs
Copying a gate fob – or gate remote – doesn't have to be as difficult as many people think. In fact, the vast majority of gate remotes can be copied relatively easily. There are two steps, normally, to getting a new gate remote, which we will guide you...
Locksmith Case Study: Minting it at a fair, with a treasure hunt and the help of thousands of keys…
Problem: A manufacturer of consumer goods wanted to entice consumers to visit their stand at a large fair. The plan was to mail a key to a large list of consumers, with a promotional message about a treasure chest this key might open at the fair. Among the...
Locksmith Case Study: An intercom system, made adaptable as a chameleon
Problem: This property manager ran a huge multi-storied former warehouse, let to numerous and ever changing tenants. The problem was the access via the intercom system. The current traditional multi-button intercom panel kept on breaking down through the...
Locksmith Case Study: Lining the pockets of a successful estate agent…
Problem: This estate agency was close to a large number of new high rise apartment blocks. More and more previously owner-occupied flats turned into rentals. As a result, the estate agency found itself becoming increasingly involved in rental property...
Locksmith Case Study: #Lastminutehugeproblem: Losing the keys just before the property exchange…
Problem: For this client of Metrolocks, the hand-over of the keys on a beautiful flat was a mere 2 hours away. Suddenly, the agent noticed, that the keys weren't where they were supposed to be. A lengthy - and fruitless - search ensued. Solution: In the...
Locksmith Case Study: The curious case of the missing office supplies
Problem: An accountants’ office manager noticed an inexplicably quick depletion of some of their office supplies. These were kept in a separate room, which was never locked. Solution: Metrolocks installed a medium duty digital mechanical latchlock. Only a...
Locksmith Case Study: A pool is good for swimming, but much less so for locks
Problem: A gym found that the moisture in the air near the changing rooms repeatedly wreaked havoc onto their existing heavy duty mechanical digital latchlock: it had to be replaced nearly every year. Solution: Metrolocks installed a moisture resistant...
“I’ve found a key lying around. What do I do!?”
What to do when you find keys lying on the street It's not uncommon to see keys just lying around in the street, and there are many conscientious people out there who would love to return those keys to their rightful owners. Anyone could find those keys and break in,...
Locksmith Case Study: Too many keys spoil the broth, over time
Problem: The management of a large block of flats felt that over the years their key-security was compromised by numerous tenants not returning their keys when they moved out. The cost of changing all main entrance and back door locks every few years was...
Locksmith Case Study: Waiters don’t like waiting
Problem: A busy pub kitchen had a simple fob-reader installed, to avoid guests erring into the kitchen. Having to hold a fob up against the reader proved impractical for staff carrying dirty dishes back into the kitchen. Solution: Metrolocks installed a...
“Oh no! I’ve lost my cabinet key!”: What to do when you have lost your furniture key
Keys can be a messy business, especially if they're for things we don't use so often. I've never lost my house key, but I've certainly misplaced the key to that filing cabinet I never need to lock. "Doesn't matter," I tell myself, "I won't ever need to lock it."...
We Love Keys, the place to go for replacement ABUS keys
We’re proud to announce the launch of a new website, welovekeys.co.uk. We Love Keys is the best and fastest way to get replacement ABUS keys, with low prices and short lead times. Why should I care? ABUS replacement keys have for years been notoriously difficult to...
Locksmith Case Study: Loss of power: not only bad for dictators, hospitals hate it, too
Problem: A hospital needed a vital area secured by means of a keypad. Even though power-cuts are an infrequent occurrence, the management was very keen to avoid any problems resulting from electricity supply issues. Solution: Metrolocks installed a...
Lock & Key Parties: How locksmiths fall in love?
The idea behind a lock and key party is simple: it's a silly icebreaker for singles looking to meet new people. A bunch of people meet, where all the men have a padlock and all the women have a key. They each wander round the room having a quick chat with...
Locksmith Case Study: This super-model doesn’t like grubby locksmithing stuff
Problem: A swanky model agency lost their bouncer and was left with a rimless armour-plate glass door and no easy way to add locks to it. In addition, the area leading from the door to the receptionist could not be cluttered up by a cable-run for any...
Why we love out-of-hours calls (and you should, too!)
I recently had to find a locksmith for a friend outside of London. It was around 10.00pm and I didn't know anybody in her area, so I went online to look. Immediately I found ten locksmith websites who claimed to be 24/7 operators and began calling them. Call 1: Ring,...
When the fireman came by… (feat. kick-ass photos!)
A fireman is as cool as Jack Bauer or Indiana Jones: they rush into burning buildings and rescue people; they use raw force to smash open doors; they wear a cool uniform and drive in a big red truck. A locksmith has a van, doesn't wear a fancy helmet, and is a million...
Mental Health Assessments: Working with the Police and the Council
A locksmith does all kinds of exciting work, and his repertoire is not limited to bog-standard slam-shuts. We're regularly called out by London Borough councils who need assistance on what are known as mental health assessments. Social workers at the council sometimes...
Authorising Security Keys
If you're here, you've probably been asked to supply a letter of authorisation for a security key. Security keys tend to be restricted in a number of different ways, and therefore usually require some sort of end-user authorisation to get made. In most cases, a simple...
What Fobs Can We Copy?
Our nationwide fob copying service is fast, efficient and affordable. If you need a fob copied, you’re in the right place! To read more about the service, including how it works and how much it costs, click here. Below you can find a list of all the fobs we know we...
How to Send Keys in the Post
At Metrolocks, we offer a mail-order fob copying service and an online key cutting service. Both of these things occasionally require customers to post us their keys or fobs, but problems occasionally arise... This article is designed as a guide to posting us your...
Smart Locks: What are they and why do I need them?
I once met a locksmith who, when he applied for an apprenticeship in the early 80s, was told, “Don’t bother, mate; everything’s going to be electronic by the mid-90s.” Well, that didn’t really happen, did it? But smart locks – locks that you can control from your...
Why Locksmiths Aren’t Rich
Locksmiths are all thieves who charge unholy amounts purely because they know they can, right? Wrong. Being a locksmith these days isn't easy. Life in the 1990s was much simpler, in pre-internet days: an ad in a local parish newsletter provided many locksmiths with...
Locksmiths on the London Underground
The London Underground is famous for all kinds of reasons. It was the world's first underground railway network; its tunnels extend staggering distances; the distinctive topographical Tube map... Read all about these things in The Guardian here. One thing that is...
Metrolocks Episode IV: A New Hope, A New Website
Way back when, Metrolocks was one of the first locksmith companies to embrace the internet. We had one of the first email addresses, locksmith@axford.com, and one of the first locksmith websites. While the world was still experiencing the inconveniences of dial-up,...
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