Kent hauliers slam police effort on theft
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• Two Kent hauliers are accusing local police of an inadequate response to truck thefts, even though the force recently recorded its fifth successive annual Fall in truck theft figures. Claude White, owner of Ramsgate-based Whites Transport, says his complaint relates to the theft of an orange and green Mercedes 2435 tractor from his premises during the night of Saturday 28 November. "The local police at Maidstone simply noted the theft," says White. "They should have helped us more." Sittingbourne-based haulier Brian Showell of Lash Transport says he got a similar response following the theft of another Mercedes 2435 tractor a Fortnight ago. "The police should no interest at all after I informed them," he says. "They did not even come to the yard." Both White and Showell fear that a professional gang of thieves is active in their area.
"Our cases are very similar," says White. "Both at the weekend and the entry achieved by cutting through the hinges of gates." DC Kelvin Wootton of Kent Police Criminal Intelligence Bureau says he can't comment on the responses of individual forces, but stresses that truck theft in the area is continuing on a "downward spiral". "We are in regular contract with the Road Haulage Association," he says. "We have also created a contingency plan which is available