News reaches us that in some parts of the country allotment holders are introducing patrols round their plots following a rise in thefts of their fruit and vegetables, which is being blamed on soaring food prices.  Rather than pay higher prices at supermarket checkouts, some unscrupulous people are letting allotmenteers grow their own for them.

Raids on allotments in Ottery St Mary, Devon, have prompted its members to start evening patrols, while the local council has arranged for a lock to be put on a gate to the plots.  The chairman of the allotment committee reports that cases of theft have soared in the last three or four months.  Meanwhile in Cornwall the Torpoint Allotment Association has also introduced similar patrols in the hope of deterring not only thieves but also vandals, which have recently become a problem.

In Cambridgeshire, one allotment holder in the village of Oakington popped home for an hour to collect his vegetable seeds and when he returned he was amazed to find that his shed had been stolen, but his tools including spade, fork, shears and a hammer had been left where the shed had been.  The tools are believed to be worth more than the shed!