1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186 
Fight back
Page 28
Page 29
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
One man who has helped fight road transport crime is
security consultant Frank Heinrich-Jones.
Tim Maughan
meets him. In the 1980s,says Frank Heinrich-Jones, truck crime hardly appeared on the radar. It went on, of course, but the authorities only began to take it seriously in the mid-'90s. By that time, around 3,000 empty trucks or vehicles and their loads were being stolen each year in Britain. "And these figures do not encompass trailer slashes," says Heinrich-Jones.
His business card neatly sums up the purpose of this one-man-band:FHJ Services is an "international transport risk and security management consultancy". He began his working life in maritime insurance, moving into the road freight insurance market in 1975."I advised big transport companies how to minimise risk,improve security and prevent losses," he says. "I also arranged insurance policies on their behalf." During that time he also worked for large freight forwarders.
Today, Heinrich-Jones is closely involved with JAGOLT,the Joint Action Group on Lorry Theft. He has a relaxed, knowledgeable manner about him, but what does his job actually entail? -On a typical day," he says, "I'll take the train to London,then have a series of meetings. I'll also have a cup of coffee with a friend, and get information about the insurance markets."
Insurance firms pay Heinrich-Jones for security information: trends, criminals' methods, and so on. This freelance work is plentiful, he says: "Because I have expertise in this specific (security) arena."
As an expert in this field, he has a few decent tales to tell."A few years ago," he says,-two container loads of vodka were imported into Felixstowe. Someone got the security PIN number, and stole the vodka." Two impostors had entered the compound, posing as truck drivers and driven away the vodka worth £200,000 before the genuine drivers arrived, Heinrich-Jones was brought in to find the culprits, but despite a £20,000 reward offered by the insurers, the criminals could not be traced. He was, however, able to identify lapses insecurity and advise the company on how to sort them out.
Security audit
On another occasion he was asked to carry out a security audit at a German road transport depot. The study took two days to complete, and a day to write up. He gets paid after the report is submitted to the customer.
Heinrich-Jones has also been asked to appear as an expert witness in court cases. "In one such case, a tobacco-laden truck was forced to stop when a pedestrian crossing traffic light turned red.A passenger in the car immediately in front of the truck got out, walked to the nearside door, and showed a gun to the truck driver. He climbed in, and instructed the driver to follow a different route.
"The truck driver was abandoned 200 miles away, and he raised the alarm; the load was never seen again. The dispute arose between the owners of the tobacco load, and the transport company and their respective insurers."
The case was resolved on the basis that the transport company and the truck driver were not at fault. The owners of the tobacco, not the operator, stumped up the insurance costs.
To the layman, trucks are a foreign environment — but Heinrich-Jones can bring essential details to the court that can vindicate an operator.
In 2004, says Heinrich-Jones, 84 LGVs were hijacked in the UK.This figure includes traditional assaults and the subsequent drive-off of trucks, as well as
ey sou ris ass oo ing at a rivers protection
more elaborate set-ups such as bogus police roadblocks. In 2005, there were 86 hijacks. and 129 in 2006. -This is of great concern," he says. "There are health and safety issues for operators. They should be doing risk assessments looking at drivers' protection." He would like to see deadlocks and in-cab gas alarms as standard kit.
As well as analysing truck crime, he is also scrutinising a specific safety gadget for a Sheffield firm. Heinrich-Jones thoroughly tests such equipment and, if it is good enough, gives it his approval before recommending the products to potential buyers. He stresses that his view is impartial; he is not a marketing consultant.
Perhaps more notably, the boss of FHJ Services is putting together a "leavers' database", along with a security vetting expert. "We know that drivers, packers and warehouse staff will, on occasionssteal," he says Individual workers can reappear at a fresh firm, with the owner blissfully unaware of any past concerns. The lengthy dossier, along with its list of sacked transport operatives, is now available and has full compliance with the Data Protection Act.
Heinrich-Jones also works with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, and the International Road Transport Union.
Road danger
To put the vulnerability of road transport into perspective, it's useful to look at the wider freight arena. Heinrich-Jones is well versed in maritime insurance but,despite the perils of sea travel, trucks remain more susceptible to danger in sea-road trunks. "I found that, out of the losses suffered, most happened on the road or port leg," he says..