LYDENBURG – A local woman has lost valuables worth thousands of rand which were in a safe deposit box, during the Standard Bank robbery last month.

A safe deposit box is said to be a secure place to keep valuables, however, Ms Cilla Young, owner of Tumbleweed Florist, learnt that it was not always the case.

Young said that it took the bank nine days to return her calls and to inform her that her belongings had been stolen during the robbery. “I called from the moment I heard it had been robbed, but I couldn’t get any assistance for days,” she explained.

According to Young, she has been banking with Standard Bank for more than 32 years. She felt her valuables would be secure but said she was disappointed with the service.

“I thought they could have called clients to inform them that they should come and see whether their valuables were missing, instead I had to call them.”

The bank has allegedly not provided them with enough information to explain how the robbers managed to gain access to the supposed highly secure premises.

“I have so many unanswered questions, such as whether it is true that the robbers used a jackhammer. How come the neighbours didn’t hear anything? What about the security guards – how is it that they didn’t hear the noise? Why didn’t the alarm go off and if it did, how did the criminals know where to switch it off?

“The bank needs to explain this to its customers because it said our possessions were kept in a time-lock door. Customers should take this matter seriously because if a bank doesn’t follow proper security procedures, it should be held liable for the loss,” Young said.

A time-lock is a part of a locking mechanism commonly found in bank vaults and other high-security containers. It is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches the preset time, even if the correct combination is known.

Time-locks are mounted on the inside of the safe or vault door. They were originally created to prevent criminals from kidnapping and torturing the person who knows the combination, and then using the extracted information to burgle the safe or vault later, or to stop entry by staff at unauthorised times.