With oil tank theft rising by 153% since 2011, a Northern Ireland company is now producing the World's first Pro- Active Alarm device which when deployed acts as a defence against theft.

Co Down based, Commander Securities Ltd. have launched the new Tank Commander® product which will provide domestic heating oil users, agricultural machinery owners or businesses with the peace of mind that if there are any attempts to steal from their oil tank the system will alert them of the thief’s presence before any theft takes place.

As part of the design work on the new model, Tank Commander® owner Ken McFeeters approached South Eastern Regional College (SERC) to provide prototyping services to test early stage design. Gary Richie, Industrial Consultant for SERC said: "Many businesses have ideas for new products, yet find it hard to get new products to market as the initial costs can be high. We work with a number of local companies to provide computer aided design and prototyping services along with access to our full suite of specialist equipment."

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SERC currently work with businesses from a number of industries to help them develop new products for both local and international markets. By providing these services locally to businesses the College is securing local jobs within these developing markets.

Company Director Ken McFeeters said: "By partnering with SERC we have been able to quickly move through the early stages of product development. This has meant that we have been able to get our product to market and secure our position as the leading supplier of oil tank security systems. The Tank Commander® unit works through sensing movement from the tank, which is an obvious sign of thieves attempting to steal oil. The system then sounds an alarm and also sends an SMS message to a mobile to alert the owner to the alarm."

(CD/MH)