Every operator dreads being hit by truck thieves. Now the trade associations and police are fighting back with,the Truckwatch scheme.
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MI Every year up to 400,000 vehicles are stolen across the UK.
In Essex alone more than Ulm worth of goods vehicles and their loads were stolen in the first six months of this year — to date only F)rn of that has been retrieved.
Once a load is stolen the police may only have a few hours to find it before it is whisked away to some Continental port: for forces near the coast that task is even harder.
It's a gloomy picture, but now Truckwatch aims to fight back. The campaign has been launched by Essex police in conjunction with the Road Haulage Association and Freight Transport Association in a bid to curb the rise in thefts, spot the thieves and recover the stolen goods.
It relies onone simple driving force; the skill and knowledge of the truck drivers out on the road.
"It's a way of getting more eyes and ears out on the roads looking for these vehicles," says Sergeant Neil Seymour of Essex police's Crime Prevention office and co-ordinator of the Truckwatch scheme. "It's a bit like a glorified neighbourhood watch scheme. .As soon as a vehicle is stolen we fax the RHAvand ETA who in turn fax or phone the leaders of various separate fax rings. They then send details of the theft to members in their ring and the fax gets passed on until it comes back to the original member — hopefully with information on where the stolen lorry is.
"It all depends on the speed and efficiency of the fax ring. If it breaks down the ring's leader sends the message the other way round the ring to try and establish where the break is. But if it works he should have an answer within the hour," says Seymour.
Truckwatch, which now covers Kent as well as Essex, was inspired by a project set up nearly two years ago by the West Midlands police and the RHA.
After numerous teething problems, the Midlands scheme has only come to life in the past six months: We spent a kit of time working out the best way of operating it and decided a system a bit like 'pass the parcel' or 'pass the fax' would be best," says Bob Ward the RHA's West Midlands manager. "By using a faxed message you can be sure the message won't be distorted or exaggerated down the line. The key is to get the message out to the drivers as soon as possible. They can then check their designated area for anything suspicious and report back to base.
"Although we have not actually caught anyone it does seem to have had a definite deterrent factor," Ward adds. When we first publicised the scheme, truck thefts in the first three months dropped to zero. Although it then went back to the normal one theft even: 10 days we now have not had a vehicle stolen in the area in the past six weeks.
"Providing the Essex scheme goes to plan I can see us going nationwide within eight months," says Seymour. "But we need time to get the thing up and running before we expand it. When we do go nationwide it has to be done right and it will involve a colossal amount of organisation. Essex police could not handle that amount of work on its own and we will be talking to other police forces and the transport authorities in the hope of establishing a national link with computers, databases and back-up facilities."
At the moment Truckwatch is jointly funded by the RHA, FTA and Essex police's crime prevention budget, but a national network would call for far greater industti support, says Seymour. He would like to see rewards offered to drivers and Truckwatch members who help trace stolen loads — and that would entail sponsorship and help from operators.
The trade associations are determined to make the scheme work. More and more-operators are victims of organised gangs of truck thieves. London has been a recent target area and operators have been put on alert to guard their aluminium-bodied trucks more closely as the numbers of stolen removals vehicles soar.
"Truck thefts affect all our members," says Karen Packham, regional assistant secretary for the ETA in the South East and a coordinator of Truckwatch. "Losing one vehicle from a fleet can have an astrono
4, mical effect on a com pany's profitability, especially for a small operator. One truck could cost it Ittrareds of thousands of pounds in lost business, not to mention the aggravation and the disastrous consequences on future insurance premiums. So it is clearly in our best interests to make this scheme work."
Response to the Truckwatch scheme has been very promising so far — 200 operators have signed on to take part in the Essex scheme, ranging from major fleet operators such as British Telecom, Shell, BP and Marks & Spencer, to owner-drivers.
"We have organised two separate fax and telephone rings already and it is amaz.;''' ing what kind of things have passed down the line," says Alec Gordon, South East zone transport manager for British Telecom. "We don't normally get vans stolen, but we get many that are vandalised or nicked for a joy ride. But this is for the whole county and we are pretty excited about it." Gordon predicts that Truckwatch will become even more important once the Channel Tunnel is opened. "There are stolen lorries scuttling all over the place," he says.
Paul North, general manager of United Transport Logistics in Maldon, Essex stresses that to work effectively, Truckwatch has to go nationwide. "Even if companies have not had loads stolen they should get involved as it affects us all," he says. "We need the whole country together on this one, otherwise it won't work. If we ignore the problem of truck thefts we are simply closing our eyes to something that is going on day after day."
Another Truckwatch member, John Ventham, of Hunter Timber in Gravesend, Kent believes the success of the scheme depends on how well it is publicised by the media, the transport authorities and the drivers themselves. "We said we would be keen to take part about a year ago, but have still not heard much about it," he says.
"It seems to have taken some time to get off the ground. But if the media gets hold of it it could be very big indeed," says Ventham.
The Essex and Kent schemes were officially launched on 10 October. Now Truckwatch officials, the Essex police and representatives from the West Midlands are hoping to develop into Truckwatch a national scheme.
0 by Richard Siddle