What are 3 Star Anti-Snap Locks?

The TS007 3-star lock rating (see photo above) is a standard developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) to assess the effectiveness of locks in resisting various forms of attack, including lock snapping. A lock that has achieved a 3-star rating has undergone rigorous testing and is considered to be among the most secure locks available. See the photo below of a recent job we did at Gorebridge Midlothian that suffered a lock-snapping break-in. We supplied and fitted 3-star T007 locks keyed alike to double French Patio doors.

What is Lock Snapping and how do we prevent it?

Lock snapping is a technique where a burglar applies force to the cylinder of a lock, causing it to snap and break in two, allowing them to gain entry to the property. Anti-snap locks are designed to withstand this type of attack by incorporating additional features such as reinforced bars, sacrificial sections, and hardened materials to make them more resistant to snapping. However, thieves are now ripping off door handles to get to the cylinder lock and then snap it off. They seem to be aware that most New-Build homes with UPVC Double Patio French doors have locks fitted that are not Anti-Snap or 3 Star Anti-Snap Locks. If you see the 2 examples below one of the Patio doors has the lock already snapped and the other photo is an attempted break-in whereby they pulled the handles of the door before they tried to snap the Euro Cylinder Lock.

So there are a number of ways to protect your door locks from the threat of lock snapping. The first and best option is to get your door locks checked by Chris at to see what type of Euro locks have been fitted on your door. If they are standard locks then we can upgrade them to Snap safe locks or 3 Star TS007 Anti-snap Euro locks depending on what you decide. The 2 photos below are both Anti-Snap locks just different levels of security and Price. Both will do a job, but the 3 Star TS007 Anti-Snap Locks featured on the right photo are much more robust and will definitely prevent even the most determined thief from trying to snap your door lock.

Prevention is the key

The biggest mistake a lot of people make when changing their door locks is that they listen to someone who is not a professional telling them they just need to go on YouTube and it’s so easy to change a door lock. You know the type, a relative who is a joiner or a handyman or just some random person on their Facebook group chat.

For a lot of people, standard lock changes are easy enough but for every 10 easy lock changes I do there are another 2 or 3 that won’t come out the door for whatever reason. Usually, the retaining screw has been put in so tight the screw head has been rounded so trying to get it off can be awkward to say the least. The Number of times I’ve had to bail people out who have tried to change the lock on their door and then took a hammer to it because they could get the euro lock to come out.

So prevention is the key and just having a euro lock that fits properly will deter a thief from snapping the lock. The photos below are 2 examples of how a euro lock should be fitted and how it shouldn’t. No need to point out which one is correct.

Badly fitted Euro lock sticking out of door
perfectly fittred euro lock on UPVC patio french doors