Call for trailer registrations
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by Karen Miles III A small South Yorkshire haulier amazed at the lack of data on stolen trailers has forced the Home Office to acknowledge the need for a system to track them.
Ron Cummings discovered the omission last week when he wanted to check the legitimacy of a one year-old trailer being offered for sale without all its official documentation.
After getting no help from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea on the trailer's past, Cummings—the proprietor of a four-truck firm in Doncaster—says: "It means someone can come along with any trailer and no-one can ask where it came from. I'm gobsmacked. We need a system which can log stolen trailers." Anyone wanting to check the history of a truck or car can pay for clarification by contacting one of the companies which collate information centred on registration numbers. But the great mass of trailers which do not have any kind of identification number are not covered.
The Home Office acknowledges trailers worth millions of pounds are stolen each year and that there is currently no mechanism for telling if a particular trailer has been stolen. A spokesman says the Home Office would welcome any move by a private company to compile records on new trailers but a system for old trailers would be impossible because of their lack of identification.
Earlier this summer trailer manufacturers agreed a specification for vehicle identification numbers to help highlight stolen units. The 17digit code will be stamped on manufacturers' plates and chassis of