Crevillent made its name with carpets. For centuries they were woven in family workshops; mechanical looms arrived at the start of the 20th century, large firms followed from the 1940s, and at its peak the town had more than eighty factories and led Spain in carpet production and export. The sector has had hard years since, but the industrial estates remain: I-Faima, Crevillente Industrial, Cachapets and I-4 on the Carretera de la Estación, all of them improved in recent years with regional grants.
Whatever a unit is used for now, it shares one thing with every other unit on those estates: from Friday evening to Monday morning, usually nobody is there.
Friday: five minutes before you leave
Walk round the unit with the keys and check, in this order:
- The pedestrian door. Locked with the key, not just closed. Does the key turn smoothly?
- The roller or sectional shutter. Fully down, and its lock or bolts engaged. If it has a padlock at the bottom, is the padlock through both rings?
- Side and back doors, including the one people prop open in summer.
- Gates and containers in the yard, and their padlocks.
- Who has keys. If someone has left the company recently, do you know their keys came back?
A lock that is getting stiff on Friday is a lock that may refuse on Monday. It is worth booking it during the week, when it suits the work, rather than at seven in the morning with staff waiting outside.
Monday: a lock that will not open
- Do not force the key. A key twisted hard in a seized cylinder breaks, and then the job is bigger.
- Try the other doors. If there is another way in, you can open the stuck lock from inside or wait for it to be dealt with properly.
- Ring, and say the estate, the street and the unit number. A photo of the lock helps.
If the lock has been tampered with, or the shutter forced, stop: photograph it, call the police, and read what happens after a break-in. The unit is made to lock the same day; a stronger lock can follow.
Keys and staff
On a unit with several doors and a changing team, keys drift. Every time someone leaves with a set, the only real fix is to change the cylinders those keys opened, not all of them. Keep a simple list of which key opens which door and padlock; it saves time and money the day you need it.
Wear, dust and the safe in the office
Locks on industrial estates live with dust, vibration and heavy use; the guide on what really wears a lock down here applies to them too. If the office keeps cash or documents in a safe, it should be fixed down; the guide on fixing a safe is written for cave houses, but the rule about what a safe is bolted to holds everywhere.