Thieves conning drivers
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by Elizabeth Daly II Thieves are stealing loads by conning truck drivers into dropping their goods in the wrong place.
Drivers in London's East End, Liverpool and Manchester are all being targeted.
Typically, a driver waiting for their delivery site to open in the morning will be approached by men masquerading as road workers who ask him to park up a couple of streets away from his destination because the road is under repair. Bogus warehousemen then persuade the driver to unload at the false location.
Graham Houghton, security controller for the Road Haulage Association, says: "Up to nine lorries a week in London's East End are being conned this way. The perpetrators are very convincing, signing off the paperwork in a very authentic manner. Our advice is that any changes to normal unloading procedures should always be confirmed, personally, inside the delivery premises with bona fide staff. "Deception thefts are as old as the haulage industry itself," says Houghton, "but what is new is that the thieves are posing as road workers, with high visibility jackets, to get the drivers to move their vehicles. Once drivers are in an unfamiliar situation a few streets away they are much more likely to be vulnerable to the con.
"We would suggest that dri vers do not move their vehicle from its normal parking spot unless asked to do so by a uniformed police officer," he adds. "As with all these things, it's better to be safe than sorry."
Prime targets are vehicles with easily saleable finished goods destined for warehouses or retail outlets. Clothes warehouses are particularly popular for this crime.