Shanida Osanokor says “sentimental” and “irreplaceable” belongings were stolen from her unit at Shurgard’s Highams Park facility, reports Marco Marcelline
A woman whose self-storage unit in Highams Park was broken into says she fears it was an “inside job”.
In September, Shanida Osanokor discovered that 24 belongings, including a laptop and designer sunglasses, were stolen from her Shurgard unit, with boxes left open.
The incident comes just over a year after the Echo reported on a similar break-in involving another customer in August 2025.
Among the items Shanida says were missing were a sheepskin merino wool jacket worth £385, Ray-Ban sunglasses valued at £208 and a laptop worth £559.
The total value of the three items alone is £1,152, with a further 21 items, including “sentimental” and “irreplaceable” gifts such as a glass rose dipped in gold that she received for her 16th birthday.
Shanida said the incident had left her feeling that Shurgard had “questions to answer” about the safety of units in its Hickman Avenue facility.
She told the Echo: “The incident has made me feel like there is a strong lack of accountability and duty of care on Shurgard’s part.
“I had trusted my items were safe, and the fact that these issues are not new shows that something is very wrong.
“I am upset as sentimental clothing and tech items have been stolen and I won’t ever get them back.”
In August 2025, Highams Park entrepreneur Gary Rozanski, who had used the facility since November 2023, discovered a ceiling tile in his unit had been cracked in half and several possessions were missing, including an Xbox, a Sonos speaker and two GoPro cameras.
Gary also reported finding expensive coats belonging to other customers inside his unit.
He said there had been no visible damage to his unit’s door or lock, and argued that thieves had accessed the unit through the ceiling.
He told the Echo: “What thieves are doing there is hopping from one unit to the next by cracking open ceiling tiles and breaking into units that way. I never saw any damage to my door or evidence that anyone had broken in through the door.”
At the time, Gary also accused Shurgard of “systemic and ongoing security failures”. He also raised concerns about the company’s CCTV three-week retention policy, which he said made police investigations difficult if customers did not discover a theft until months after it had happened.
The same issue has afflicted Shanida, who was told there was no CCTV footage that had captured a break-in, thus rendering a police investigation impossible.
Unlike Gary, Shanida’s unit’s ceilings were not tampered with, leading her to suspect that the incident could have been an “inside job”.
Shurgard did not respond to a request for comment about Shanida’s incident.
Responding to Gary’s concerns in 2025, Shurgard said it took theft “very seriously” but explained that staff had been unable to alert him and other potentially affected customers because there had been no visible damage to doors or locks.
Shurgard also said it had strengthened security at the facility through remote monitoring of CCTV and access reports after office hours. Opening hours had also reportedly been reduced from 6am – 11pm to 7am – 9pm.
Have you also been affected by a break-in at Shurgard? Get in touch: [email protected]
Read more: Theft victim slams ‘negligent’ Highams Park self-storage company after break-ins
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