Hauliers warned: guard your trucks
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by Karek„Miles
• The importance of depot security is underlined by Government research on truck theft that reveals half of the 3,000 trucks stolen last year were last from their home bases.
The Home Office also reports that only 500 stolen trucks were recovered. Hauliers need to update truck specifications as LGV security still lags behind advances made in the car industry, it says.
• Some 80% of the thefts were for vehicles rather than cargoes; • Almost 40% of the thefts hit operators in London; • The South-East, Wales and Scotland accounted for just 5%. 111 Companies which suffered one break-in were most likely to be hit again • 26% of operators said they had lost business as the result of a theft.
lveco Fords and Leyland Dafs were stolen in the greatest numbers, reflecting their sales levels, but Berlfords are stolen at the highest rate and exported to order. The Home Office concludes that truck theft cost industry around 1:30in last year but the Freight Transport and Road Haulage Associations put the bill at more than 41bn.
Disputing the .,C30m estimate, the FTA says: "This would equate to a loss of just .£10,000 per truck—most trucks are worth considerably more than this, even before you have taken into account any specialist equipment fitted, the cost of hiring extra vehicles and the difference between insurance pay-outs and the actual cost of replacement," PI Thieves made off with a trailer full of cognac in a raid on two Rugby-based transport companies on Saturday night.
The 22-pallet Tesco load, valued at more than .C100,000, was driven through fencing from the secure compound at Waldings Transport using a tractive unit stolen next door from Panic Transport.