Goods Worth £339,960 Stolen from Commercial Vehicles
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From our Parliamentary Correspondent
GOODS worth over a third of a million pounds were stolen from commercial vehicles in the Metropolitan Police District during the first five months of this year.
Mr. David Renton, Minister of State at the Home Office, who stated this in the Commons last week, said that there had been 1,843 cases of larceny from vehicles in the street, and the value of the property involved came te£339,960. The 475 thefts from vehicles on private premises had meant the loss of property worth £17,852.
These offences had led to 198 convictions, added Mr. Renton, and the 44 prison sentences imposed had included 26 for simple larceny and 11 for receiving. The average sentence had been 10.6 months.
486 Prosecutions In 1960 there had been a total of 5,031 thefts from vehicles, affecting property worth £635,915. There had been 486 prosecutions and 94 prison sentences.
Mr. Eric Johnson (Cons., Blackley), who had asked for these figures. said that operators of commercial vehicles were finding it increasingly difficult to get adequate insurance against theft .,of the goods they carried.
He asked if the Home Secretary was SHEARINGS TOURS TURN TO HAULAGE
IN connection with the report in the 1 July 14 issue of The Commercial Motor published under the above heading, M. Croker and Sons, Ltd., of Salford, point out that Shearings Tours (Manchester), Ltd., have not taken over the complete general haulage side of the Croker business. They have acquired only one vehicle with an A licence.
The remainder of the Croker haulage business is still being operated by the company, and not by Shearings.
M. Croker and Sons. Ltd., have been in haulage for more than 50 Kears. satisfied with the present powers of the courts to deal with offences of this nature.
The Home Secretary's attention had not been drawn to any insurance difficulty, replied Mr. Charles Fletcher-Cooke, Under Secretary at the Home Office. He was satisfied that the courts had adequate powers to deal with offenders.
These exchanges occurred shortly after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner had drawn attention to the increases last year in the number of thefts from unattended vehicles and the number of stolen vehicles.
During 1960, he reported, 11,766 vehicles, worth an estimated £4.75m. were recorded as stolen, an increase of 2,595 (28.3 per cent.) over 1959. A total of 9,377 (79.7 per cent.) were recovered.
In addition, 19,837 vehicles (17,470 in 1959) were taken without their owners' consent, and found abandoned within 48 hours. Of these, 5,754 had their contents or fittings stolen.
The Commissioner said it was too early to give detailed information about the results achieved by the Stolen Motor Vehicles Investigation Branch, established last September, but he was sure that by next year he would be able to report very favourably upon its work.
THAT EXTRA 3d. THAT EXTRA 3d.
FOLLOWING the 3d. a gallon increase in tax on petrol and other fuels, which will add about £6,000 to this year's running costs of the Oldham undertaking, and about £8,500 in a full year, Mr. C. P. Paige, its general manager, says that it will " unbalance the accounts, except in the unlikely event of the recently approved higher fares producing more revenue than we expect."
"It does seem that the committee will almost immediately have to give attention and careful consideration to making yet another application to increase fares to meet our running costs," he said.