LAST WEEK I came home late after a night out and found myself locked out of the complex.

There are two ways of gaining entry. Every apartment owner has a zapper, or fob, which they use when driving in and out through the electronic gate. There's also a small, adjacently-positioned pedestrian gate which opens with a key. My problem was that unknown to me, someone had earlier broken their key in the lock, making it impossible to operate the pedestrian gate. And because I wasn't driving I hadn't brought my zapper.

It was 2am and I'd just stepped out of a taxi. Without a coat I quickly felt the cold. With no one about I was in a quandry. Fortunately for me, and probably because it was the weekend, I didn't have long to wait before another night owl happened along in his car and . . . while I breathed a sigh of thankful relief . . . zapped open the electronic gate.

Next morning I phoned the management agents and to their credit the small gate was "xed promptly.

Looking back, we've had persistent problems with the electronic gate since it was installed three years ago. Initially it seemed to malfunction on a suspiciously regular basis. When it did break down it always seemed to do so when in a semi-shut position, leaving just enough space for a single line of traf"c to crawl in or out of the complex. Often it remained ajar for days, literally an open invitation to prospective burglars.

It wasn't until a CCTV camera was trained on the gate that the source of the problem emerged. Surprisingly, residents themselves were actually the vandals. A few frustrated early morning drivers who regularly found themselves locked in and without a zapper were opting to physically force open the gate, causing it to jam.

A letter from the management agent delivered to all residents indicated how serious the problem was becoming.

"The maintenance company discovered a split in the metal plate on the motor and the cement around the motor has come away. This is most likely caused by the continual abuse that the gate is subjected to by residents and others forcing it open."

While the builders remained onsite, they too were inclined to ignore altogether the bothersome business of using a zapper. From an open position, the gate will slowly start to close if the invisible horizontal beam connecting sensors on the pillars at either side of the entrance remains unbroken by traf"c for longer than "ve seconds.

With what in retrospect I concede was admirable disregard for modern technology, the workmen used a strategically positioned plank of wood to ensure the gate stayed open all day while they went about their business.

Every morning they propped a length of "four by four" in front of one sensor so that the beam stayed "broken" - and the gate remained open - until they, later on, removed the timber - usually at around "ve when they were knocking off work.

What has been, at least potentially, the biggest problem we've encountered with the gate occurred after several cars were one night broken into. The theft of personal belongings did cause individual drivers some distress but a general worry for all of us was the fact that six zappers were stolen from cars that night.

Fortunately the gate's remote control coding could be changed by everyone realigning the position of the 10 'dip switches' inside their zapper to a new prearranged sequence. This meant the stolen zappers were now obsolete.

Since then most drivers in the complex take the sensible precaution of never leaving their zapper in the car.