'Owning a safe could help acquiring cover for valuables'

For those homeowners with many valuables such as jewellery stored in their property, the purchase of a safe could be a help when looking for house contents insurance cover, it has been suggested.

Although, Anthony Neary, managing director of the Safe Shop, admits that owning a safe in which to store expensive items may not necessarily lower premiums on home insurance, it could assist with attaining a suitable policy.

He said: "Some people are told by insurance companies that they’re not going to get cover unless they buy a safe of a certain type.

"It tends not to be cash that people are storing but valuables and jewellery, that kind of thing.

"But it doesn’t bring the premium down, it just means that they’ve got cover."

According to figures from the British Crime Survey, there were over 300,555 recorded offences of burglary in a dwelling in England and Wales in 2005 to 2006.