Danger zone
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A crime wave sweeping Italy is making it Europe's most dangerous destination for truckers. CM went to one of the worst trouble spots to talk to drivers.
Stewart Warrender still has the nightmare. The Stockport-based ownerdriver was set upon and tortured by thugs in northern Italy at the end of last year. They stole his truck and poured glass fragments into his eyes in a bid to blind him. He staggered through fields for more than an hour before finding help.
Although he drove back to Italy almost immediately, the attack has left him deaf in one ear and psychologically scarred. Several months ago his wife nudged him in his sleep and he swung out in terror and punched her in the face.
Italy is fast gaining a reputation as Europe's most dangerous destination for truckers. There were 6,000 armed robberies on loaded trucks in 1991, compared to 150 in 1983, according to one Italian insurance firm.
"The figures are to say the least shocking," Assitalia's Claudio Campana told the International Union of Marine Insurance conference in Berne in September. "Armed robberies of goods transported on trucks represent a problem of the utmost importance in Italy, considering the frequency and relative simplicity with which they are committed."
CRIME WAVE
Hauliers are paying the price for the (lime wave in higher insurance premiums. One of Britain's main goods-in-transit insurers, Sun Alliance, says its rates for Italy are 50% higher than for other EC states.
"In other countries we tend to work on the basis of how valuable the goods are and therefore how likely they are to be stolen, but in Italy everything is at a high risk," says assistant underwriter Rob Cook.
Some areas in Italy are regarded as no-go for solo truckers. They include lay-bys, docks, industrial estates and even some service stations. Northern European drivers resort to driving in convoy and parking up stockade-style for protection.
Warrender, who specialises in the Italian market and speaks the language, admits to never stopping in Italy now until he reaches his destination. He was set upon after parking alone in a layby near Como on the Italian/Swiss border.
He defies the Department of Transport or Italian authorities to prosecute him for breaking the law. Warrender says he has learnt valuable lessons since the attack and believes other Italy veterans have done the same since reading about it in January (CM38 January 1992).
He advises drivers never to reveal to locals -or even Customs or immigration officials where possible—what they are carrying: he believes the thieves who stole his load of 1,000-a-roll fabric were acting on inside information.
Another tip is not to enter Italy unless you can make your drop-off point in one go. And finally, always unhitch your trailer when parking up. That way the crooks can steal the goods without first attacking the driver.
Claudio Campana of Assitalia goes so far as to advise hauliers specialising in Italy to avoid using subcontractors, maintain secrecy about the value of goods and limit stops at service stations and parking areas. He also suggests that two drivers should be used, that alarms should be fitted and that advertising on the trucks should be limited.
ARMED ATTACKS
According to the Italian interior ministry, 73% of armed attacks on highways happen during the day. Favourite targets of the thieves include clothes, pharmaceuticals, hi-fl goods, foods, shoes and parcels. And robberies are of three types: 15% are "on commission", where the thieves work on inside information, often from drivers themselves; 60% are straightforward attacks and the remainder are "simulated" thefts, where an operator or consignor arranges a theft in order to swindle his insurer. The ministry also categorises three typical methods of attack. The first, used most commonly in the south of Italy, is when masked thieves in a car force the driver to pull up, force him at gunpoint to get out and tie him up. In the second, the crooks disguised as police stop the lorry and in the third, the robbers pounce while the driver is asleep. The last two methods are the norm in the north and centre of the country.
British drivers we spoke to waiting to pick up return loads outside Como's TIR truck park last month were certainly nervous about having to travel to Italy. Most did it through economic necessity "Italy is without doubt the worst country to drive to," said Steve Coe, a driver for Purfieet-based Kentvale International. "You've got to be so careful. It gives you the shits just coming through the Mont Blanc tunnel."
Although Coe had never experienced violence himself, he had heard the rumours that circulate around the TIR parks and truckstops of truckers being beaten up or even murdered, Several drivers mentioned that they had heard of a German driver killed a few days previously at a service station near Milan, but could not confirm this.
Drivers who are attacked, however, often have themselves to blame, said owner-driver Keith Brown from Bishop Aukland, County Durham, who was pulling for haulage firm MFL. "They tempt fate by parking alone. You should never park alone, particularly in big towns. lt makes you a sitting duck," he said. The night before, he and three other UK drivers had parked their tractive units in Genoa docks with their doors almost touching. Even then caribinieris told them they were courting danger.
Warrender said he passed a driver from a well-known UK international haulage firm a few days before parked on his own, "with his curtains drawn and trailer bulging". Even after all the publicity about attacks in Italy, drivers are still taking big risks, he says.
But drivers cannot always travel and park in twos and threes. "If you make a delivery at two in the morning you have to stop, like it or not," said Geoff Butler, a driver for Stroud transport company Karapetsis.
His solution would be to repay each attack on a British driver abroad by randomly targeting truckers from that country when they come to the UK. "I believe in an eye for an eye," said Butler.
Warrender has different ideas. He said drivers who advocate such action are "crazy". Instead, Italy should increase the number of police on duty at or near trouble spots and slap tougher sentences on thieves.
The growth in crime is certainly alarming insurers, who stumped up £120m in claims for robberies on trucks in Italy during 1990. Campana told the LAM that a concerted antitheft effort was needed.
"To get rid of this social plague, all parties involved in this hard battle against criminality must co-operate," he urged. "For economic interest; goods owners, insurers and hauliers: and for social interest; the police and government."
by Juliet Parish