Alan's unusual steering lock

When we went to Stokesay recently, we gathered around Alan's car to view a padlock in an unusual place.........see the image above. This, he explained is his steering column locking device, and Alan's kindly written the account below......

An unusual steering column lock.

The uppermost steering column universal joint on my 1970 TR6 presented an ideal opportunity to enhance the vehicle security. Now when parking I put a couple of turns on the steering wheel and fit a long shackle padlock though the universal joint. There is insufficient clearance to allow the steering column to rotate with the lock fitted as the body of the padlock contacts the bodywork and it is impossible to steer the vehicle without first removing the lock. Fitting and removing the lock is a quick and clean task and there is little room to allow the lock to be easily attacked. When not in use the lock is conveniently parked through the holes in the clutch slave cylinder frame.

(It's still beyond my non technical range of understanding, but I'm sure most of you will 'get it'! Many thanks to Alan for the description - B)