They were secured with padlocks, often the corbin brand. The US military still use a similar padlock today marked US.
I have seen padlocks still hanging on the bins of CMPs 60 years after they were released. I have also found the odd one under the fuel tanks of the Bren carriers. While I can't confirm or dispute Gordon's guess, I can tell you that even today, the padlocks are part of the equipment checklist of a vehicle, and when you are issued the vehicle, you are also issued the appropriate number of padlocks. I can also tell you that the army cuts thousands of them every year when guys forget the keys at home, or the guy with the key is off that day that they need to get into the vehicle lockers.
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