Truck Theft Security

This section of uk-trucking.net deals with the issue of security within the business. It has tips for drivers and owners to help reduce the chances of truck theft having an impact on your company. The section includes a directory of secure parking areas throughout the UK. If you own or use a secure parking area in the UK, please email the details to elton@uk-trucking.net for inclusion in our directory of UK secure parking areas.

In April 2003, the Metropolitan Police Service established TruckPol, an intelligence unit dedicated to collating and analysing road freight crime across the UK. TruckPol acts as a single point of contact, collating crime reports and intelligence from a variety of sources. In this way it is able to deliver a national perspective in its strategic assessment of road freight criminality.

Road freight crime continued to be a problem in 2004. Vehicles are being stolen more for their loads as they afford criminals a high profit, low risk opportunity. Security weaknesses within the supply chain and logistics sectors continue to be exploited and we have seen everything from extremely
high value hijacks and commercial robberies carried out by well-organised gangs with their own tractor units to opportunists stealing vehicles left unattended with keys in the ignition. Hijacks and the use of violence against drivers has risen sharply in 2004, peaking at 15 in November 2004.

Police response has been regionalised and partially effective - multi-force operations such as Grafton (Heathrow area), Indicate (West Midlands) and Mammoth ( South Yorkshire ) have been very successful in driving down criminality but the evidence suggests that it is frequently displaced rather than prevented.

Criminals clearly appear to be targeting vehicles out on the road. Security is unfortunately not given a high enough priority with many operators, particularly smaller companies who suffer the most and for whom the consequences of the theft of a single vehicle and load are often the most dramatic. Ignition keys being left in vehicles account for approximately half of all vehicles stolen. Staff, both in the office and out on the road, must be warned against discussing specific details of consignments with plausible con-men. Valuable and/or desirable loads are still being sub-contracted down to disreputable operators or are left on unattended trailers in quiet industrial estates and trailer parks, from where they are stolen and PIN container release numbers can be relatively easily obtained through remote sheds, corrupt contacts within transport offices or even on the basis of a phone call. There is much room for improvement, both within the industry to prevent losses and by the police to detect and catch those responsible, particularly cross-border criminals. Effective industry/police partnerships such as TruckPol are a step in the right direction as they endeavour to stay one step ahead of the criminals and keep people and property safe.