Where your site's page says smart entry opens the unit, you don't need a padlock: you unlock and lock it with smart entry on your phone (or a fob if you don't have a smartphone). Chipping Norton is the exception: bring your own padlock, or buy a keyed or combination one at reception. Drive-up units are locked with your own padlock. If your site's page doesn't say how its units are locked, ring 0800 2545585 before move-in day. Lost the key to your own padlock? We don't hold spare keys, so call your site before you travel.
How do I know if my unit needs a padlock?
Find your site's page and read how it describes getting into your unit.
Smart entry opens the unit. Where your site's page describes the smart-entry lock, you touch the light on the front of the lock to wake it, press "unlock" in smart entry, slide the latch and open the door. To close up, you "slide the latch back to lock the unit, the LED light will glow red and the unit alarm will be automatically re-activated". Your site's page may describe it as pressing the "unlock" unit button on your phone and you "slide the latch". There's no padlock to buy. Check the light has gone red before you walk away: a latch left open means the door isn't locked. Our move-in guide says "Please let us know if you don't have a 'smart' phone as we can supply you with a fob instead."
Chipping Norton. Its page says: "When you book with us, you choose a security pin that lets you pass through the doors. Bring your own padlock for the unit, and you will be the only one with access to your items." Our move-in guide adds: "Please bring a padlock to secure your unit or you can buy a keyed or combination one from our reception." Your unit's alarm there is set and unset by your own PIN code (see does every unit have its own alarm?).
Your site's page doesn't say. Your site's page doesn't say how its units are locked, so ring 0800 2545585 before move-in day to check whether you need to bring a padlock. A page that only says padlocks are "available to buy" is telling you what the shop sells, not how the units lock.
Booking a drive-up unit
Our drive-up storage page says: "Simply drive in, load or unload your belongings, and lock up securely with your own padlock."
Renting a container
Our container storage page calls the Shipston-on-Stour and Chipping Norton containers "lockable" and lists "padlocks for sale", but it doesn't say which lock a container takes. Ask before you buy one: 0800 2545585, or 01608 532162, the number that page gives for container storage.
Choosing a padlock
Our Box Shop sells three:
| Padlock | Price | Opens with |
|---|---|---|
| 40mm brass padlock | £12.00 | Key. Hardened steel shackle |
| 50mm combination brass padlock | £18.00 | A resettable 4-digit code. No key to lose |
| 82mm heavy-duty container shutter padlock | £36.00 | Key. Enclosed shackle and anti-drill cylinder |
The product page lists the 82mm padlock for "Self storage shutters and roller doors". It doesn't say whether it fits our container doors, so ask before you buy it for a container. Our walkthrough guide suggests "a good quality closed-shackle padlock", because very little of the loop is exposed to bolt cutters.
Where not to fit it. Our terms make locking the unit your job, and say where your lock must not go (clause 21): "You will be solely responsible for securing the Unit and ensuring it is locked so as to be secure from unauthorised entry at all times when You are not in the Unit. … You are not permitted to apply a padlock or other device to the Unit in Our overlocking position and We may have any such padlock or device forcefully cut off at Your expense." The overlocking position is where we fit our own lock, for example to stop access while money is owed (clause 6(a)). If you're not sure which fitting is ours, ask.
Lost the key to your padlock
We don't hold spare keys, so the best fix is a second key kept safe away from the unit, or the combination padlock.
If you've lost it, call your site or 0800 2545585 in your site's office hours before you set off. Office hours vary by site and are on its page; Chipping Norton's page gives 01608 656300, open 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm Saturday, closed Sunday. Ask what's involved, who removes the lock and whether there's a charge: our terms set no lost-key procedure or fee, and the times clause 17 lets us "break any lock if reasonably necessary to gain entry" don't include a customer's lost key. One of our guides says that if you lock yourself out, "the team can talk you through the process". We may ask you to prove who you are (clause 14).
Bring or buy a new padlock before you leave, and don't fit it in our overlocking position. If you think the key was taken rather than lost, tell us straight away.
Lost or stolen phone
Where smart entry opens your unit, your phone is the key. Call us straight away from another phone and ask us to stop smart entry on the lost phone, and on any access you've shared from it. If it was stolen, report it to the police. If your site's page says "Our security systems also log each time a unit is accessed", ask whether your unit was opened after the phone went.
Our phones are staffed in office hours, so outside your site's office hours, which are on its page, there may be nobody to answer; your site's number is on the same page. Our Contents Protection page lists "Theft involving forcible entry or exit" but doesn't say whether entry with a stolen phone counts, so tell us and your insurer and ask. Ask us whether a fob can get you in while you replace the phone. For a phone that has simply died, see what if smart entry won't open the gate?
Acting for someone else, or for a business
Clearing a unit for a parent, or acting as an executor? You need the key or combination, or shared smart entry access set up in advance. Our terms leave the risk with the renter if they "leave a key with or permit access to the Unit to any person other than Your own Agent who is responsible to You and subject to Your control" (clause 16). See how to share access to your unit and what happens when the renter dies.
For a business, shared smart entry access means each person uses their own phone rather than a copy of one key. Reading's page says sharing grants "temporary unit access to a friend, family member or colleague"; ask how long shared access lasts at your site.
Sort it before moving day
Get a price online and ask us how your unit locks, or call 0800 2545585. If you've already booked and your site's page doesn't say, call before moving day.
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