eslie Stretton's (veto Ford cargo 16/16, fitted with a 28ft
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Brymack body, was stolen from the rear of Stanley Handling in Harpenden, Herts on 24 September. The vehicle, registration E861 KVT, is painted blue with "L&N" in magnetic letters. If these have been removed they will reveal the name "Zip Up" written in yellow. The thieves were only interested in the vehicle as they unloaded a £50,000 working platform and a £5,000 generator and left them at a disused farm near Luton Airport. Stretton has managed to find a replacement vehicle, but it's smaller and he is being forced to turn away £4,000 worth of business a month.
Contact Leslie Stretton on (0582) 666283.
olice are still appealing for witnesses to the theft of 10 tonnes of copper worth £6,000 from a highjacked Seddon Atkinson. The driver was tricked into stopping on the hard shoulder of the M5 near the junction of the M6 in broad daylight on 3 November. The truck, operated by Cooper's Metals of Smethwick, was driven off by two men after they had persuaded the driver to stop to inspect his load. The vehicle was found abandoned the following day and police believe hundreds of motorists on the M5 must have seen the incident.
Contact 021-626 9010.
idlands-based Cottrill Transport is offering a £500 reward for the recovery of an ERF tractor from its fleet of five. The theft has hit the company particularly hard because "it was a spare vehicle which we were waiting to put on the road and we hadn't insured it yet," says director Geoff Cottrill. The unliveried unit, registration B387 MBG, was stolen at around 02:00hrs on 3 December from the company's offices at Bromsgrove. It has a white cab, a red towbar in front of the grille and a black chassis (number 51124.1 The engine number is 6LXCT235113.
Contact Geoff Cottrill on (0527) 575355. irch Transport had a blue Mercedes box van, registration A524 GRE, stolen from the Star Truckstop at the Wellburn Interchange in Lanarkshire during the night of 30 November. The vehicle carries a distinctive livery, with "Mike Birch Transport" in four-foot-high letters on both sides. The chassis and engine number are 38501925115292 and 35395120787767; the recorded mileage on 27 November. was 51,367km.
Contact Mike Birch on (0782) 202544.
olmes of Heathrow is offering a £500 reward for information leading to the recovery of parts of a three-month-old rollerbed air cargo trailer stolen from the North Feltham Trading Estate at Heathrow last week. The trailer was found later the same day but with £11,000 worth of damage caused when the thieves removed a complete Rollermat five-track floor, complete with control box and "every last nut and bolt", says company director David Holmes.
"They also cut off one axle, removed the remaining axles, wheels and tyres, together with the sliding side posts, side guards and cut away a large section of one curtain," he says. "The rollerbed floor is of little use to anyone not operating in air cargo but the other parts are more generally useful."
"We have suffered an epidemic of truck theft in this area recently, perhaps like other areas," Holmes adds. "The police generally take the attitude that insurance will cover the loss, which is exactly what they said to me when I suggested certain lines of inquiry into this case. Unless they can catch someone red-handed in the act the police just aren't interested.
"I drive around the industrial estate where we are near Heathrow, and I think to myself that the whole place looks just like a truck supermarket to thieves," he adds. "I know of one case where an operator was advised to leave vehicles unlocked, to prevent thieves having to do any damage when they took the truck! If I was an owner-operator this theft would have put me out of business. As it is, the insurance companies simply push up the premiums every year we have to stand the cost."
Contact David Holmes on 081-755 1464.