Can I get new padlocks to match an existing key?

In our Facebook post on 6th April we showed you some ‘gold’ padlocks we supplied to an important export customer. It was a bit of an adventure. The customer contacted us and asked if we could supply some padlocks same as the ones they already had. The photo they sent instantly identified the padlock bodies to be Abus Eighty Three, but importantly the customer wanted us to supply the locks so they would open with existing keys that were already in their possession. The only identifying marks on the padlocks were the words ‘Master Locksmith Association’ and an 8 digit number.

We contacted MLA (Master Locksmith Association) here in the UK and they put us in touch with a couple of their members local to us. We were encouraged to try and get our hands on an example of the original keys. We went back to our customer and learned that the end user of the locks was based in West Africa. Despite this, keys were despatched to us.

When we received the keys we found a couple more clues marked on them. The 8 digit code previously mentioned turned out to be the phone number of a small locksmith shop in Perth, Australia. Coincidentally a member of the Master Locksmith Association of Australia! We contacted them and they confirmed that the original locks were supplied by them, and they could make new padlocks to match the existing keys.

Orders were placed and the new locks were received at our UK warehouse in early April. We set about engraving the bodies of the padlocks with our contact details in the hope that in future, the user would be able to more quickly identify the origin of the equipment.

As standard practice, we record all details of every order like this, including unique key/lock number information. This gives us compliance with our Quality Management System and also gives customers full traceability.

The morale of this tale is that we are very persistient and will go to great lengths to source goods exactly to our customer’s needs. Our Quality Management System is fully transparent enabling customer to audit us to meet their operational needs.

So in answer to the question, can I buy padlocks to match existing ones we’ve been using for many years? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

If you need help getting padlocks made to a particular specification, please contact us today.

• UK, EMEA & Rest of World : +44 (0)1376 325506
• North America: (727) 608 4325
• sales@totallockout.com