KEY POINTS:
A "Fort Knox" locker trailer will soon give surfers and sun-worshippers at Mt Maunganui protection for their valuables.
Tauranga medical researcher and entrepreneur Shaun Holt is starting the locker service, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, at the Mount's main beach next month.
Dr Holt, 35, plans to operate the service from a converted trailer fitted with a walk-in unit and metal locker boxes.
"It's going to be Fort Knox on wheels," he said.
Dr Holt heard about similar locker services at Bondi and Manly beaches in Sydney and thought the idea would work at the busy Mount beach.
He has never had anything stolen there but has lost items in the sea, including a key and money from a velcro pocket in his shorts.
"It's not only so stuff doesn't get stolen, it's also stopping it getting lost in the sand or sea."
He has called the business Davy Jones Lockers - the expression sailors use to describe the bottom of the sea. If it proves successful, he may expand to other beaches and franchise the trailers.
Prices have not yet been set but are likely to be about $2 to store a key, $4 for a lunchbox-sized locker able to fit a wallet, phone, camera, keys, iPod and other small items and $6 to store a backpack.
Those who hire the lockers will not have the bother of keys, but will instead be given an identity wristband.
Tauranga City Council has given Dr Holt consent to park the trailer on the grass by the beach. Local police also support the plan.
Sergeant Craig Madden said Mt Maunganui was a target for thieves, particularly over the Christmas/New Year period, when large numbers of holiday-makers descended on the beach.
"They often just park their valuables in a towel without any guardianship over them." Surfers who tried to hide their keys on car wheels were also vulnerable.
The locker trailer is still being built but is expected to open the first week of December, on fine days only at first.
Once operating, the wheels will be clamped and the tow bar removed to prevent it being stolen.
Security to prevent people trying to get into others' lockers would not only include the wristbands but also a password, and other measures.
Said Dr Holt: "There's always a miniscule risk, of course, but it's got to be safer than putting stuff in your shoe."
