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Eurowatch offers Continental safe)
Page 10
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Gay Sheppard UK-based international hauliers are being offered a security service designed to ensure that foreign police respond to their emergency calls in the event of theft or other emergencies.
Developers of the service, called Eurowatch, say police help is often non-existent for UK truck drivers who are victims of crime overseas.
Eurowatch works through a central website and has a network of national service providers throughout most of Europe who have accreditation with local police.
Eurowatch director Peter Vyvyan-Robinson says a unique feature is its ability to transfer vehicle tracking data O a form that is recognisable to computers throughout Europe.
"We have long recognised the need for a service that provides drivers with protection when crossing national borders," he adds.
"Criminals are targeting trucks with foreign plates because they know the drivers are less able to get police to respond to their problem. Mobile phones don't always go into the local emergency number when abroad."
Vyvyan-Robinson reports that European Union statistics show there are 200,000 thefts of, or from, trucks every year. "Now, when a crime occurs in a foreign country, for the first time there is a reliable way of gaining access to police," he claims.
Eurowatch has been developed by London-based Tri-Mex International. which specialises in electronic protection services for cargo owners, it costs £155 per vehicle per year with discounts for fleets of more than 100 trucks.
George Brown, managing director of Scottish-based G&S International, which carries high value goods such as clothing and computers, agrees that foreign police often lack motivation when dealing with thefts from foreign trucks. "We had £50,000 worth of garments stolen from a curtainsider in France a cou ple of months ago and t would not even write a repor come out of the office," he sz