Are Cheap Padlocks Any Good | The Honest Answer

I had a call last month from a bloke in Stopsley. Someone had got into his garage overnight and taken about £800 worth of power tools. The padlock on the door was a brass open-shackle thing, probably bought from a pound shop or picked up cheap off a market stall. The hasp it sat on wasn't even coach-bolted through the timber. Ten seconds with a screwdriver and it was open. He asked me why nobody had ever told him.

That's why I'm writing this.

The myth

The thing people repeat is that a padlock is a padlock. A lock keeps something locked, so any lock will do. You see it in Facebook groups, on DIY forums, everywhere. 'Just grab one from B&Q, doesn't need to be fancy, it's only a shed.'

It's wrong. Not just a bit wrong. Dangerously wrong if what's inside is worth protecting.

What the ratings actually mean

Padlocks are graded on a European standard called CEN, from Grade 1 to Grade 6. Most people have never heard of it. Most of the padlocks sold in supermarkets and hardware shops don't even make it to Grade 1, which is the bottom of the scale.

Here's what the grades mean in plain English:

• Grade 1 to 2. Minimal resistance. Fine for a garden ornament or a locker with nothing in it. A determined person gets through these with a £3 pair of bolt croppers.
• Grade 3 to 4. Decent everyday security. Resists bolt croppers, shimming, basic picking. Worth using on a shed or a storage unit.
• Grade 5 to 6. Serious kit. Insurance-approved, drill-resistant, shackle-hardened. What you need on a van, a plant compound, or anywhere tools or stock are stored overnight.

Most cheap padlocks, the £5 to £20 brass ones, are Grade 1 or not graded at all. 'Not graded' doesn't mean it failed. It means the manufacturer didn't bother submitting it for testing. Draw your own conclusions.

Open shackle versus closed shackle

This matters as much as the grade, and almost nobody talks about it.

An open-shackle padlock has a big loop of metal sticking up above the body. That loop is exactly what bolt croppers are designed to cut. Even a decent open-shackle lock is exposed in a way that a closed-shackle version isn't.

A closed-shackle padlock has the shackle recessed into the body so there's almost nothing to get the jaws of a cropper around. Brands like Squire, Abus, and Mul-T-Lock make closed-shackle padlocks at various grades. You'll pay more. It's worth it where it counts.

I see open-shackle brass padlocks on gates, garage doors, and storage units all across LU1 and LU2. Every single one of them is a suggestion, not a lock.

Where a cheap padlock is genuinely fine

I'm not going to pretend the answer is always 'buy the expensive one'. That's not honest advice. It's sales talk.

A cheap padlock is fine when:

• The gate or enclosure has nothing of value behind it.
• You're locking something as a deterrent to opportunists, not determined thieves, a communal bin store, say, or a low-risk internal door.
• You want to signal 'this is closed', not actually secure it. A garden gate in Wigmore that keeps kids from wandering into a pool area needs a lock that operates reliably, not one that resists attack.
• You accept you're going to replace it every year anyway because it'll rust solid.

In those situations, spending £60 on a Grade 5 closed-shackle Mul-T-Lock is genuinely overkill. Buy a decent Grade 2 or 3 and move on.

Where it becomes false economy fast

This is where people get hurt financially.

Your shed in Farley Hill with £2,000 of Makita kit in it. Your garden store in Houghton Regis with a ride-on mower. A storage unit off the Skimpot Road in LU4. A bike locked to a wall in Bury Park. A van hasp in Leagrave.

A £20 open-shackle padlock on any of those isn't security. It's wishful thinking. And your home insurance almost certainly won't pay out if a cheap lock was involved, because most policies specify a minimum standard. Get out your policy documents and look for the phrase 'suitable lock' or 'approved padlock'. If they're vague, call and ask. Find out before you have a claim rejected.

For sheds with tools or bikes, I'd look at a Grade 4 minimum, closed-shackle, on a proper close-shackle hasp with coach bolts going through the door and a backing plate on the inside. The hasp matters as much as the lock. I've seen a Grade 5 padlock fitted to a hasp held on with two woodscrews. The whole thing pulled off in seconds.

The CEN grade is not on the box by accident

When you're buying, look for the CEN grade on the packaging. If it isn't there, ask yourself why. Reputable manufacturers like Squire, Abus, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy display it because it's a selling point. If a padlock is price-marked at £8 and there's no grade visible anywhere, that's your answer.

For most shed and garage use I'd suggest a minimum of Grade 4 closed-shackle with a hardened steel shackle. Expect to pay £35 to £70 depending on the brand and size. For anything involving insurance compliance or high-value contents, go Grade 5 or above and keep the receipt.

One more thing. A padlock is only as good as what it's fitted to. A hardened padlock on a rotten wooden door or a flimsy hasp is still a weak point. The whole system needs to work.

If you're not sure whether what you've got is up to the job, Locks Local covers Luton and the surrounding LU postcodes. Give us a call, we'll tell you honestly what we think, and we won't try to sell you something you don't need. Average arrival is under 30 minutes for most of the area, and we'll give you a straight price before we start.