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EU to fund secure truckstops pilot plan in bid to cut crime
Page 8
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A pan-European scheme to build secure truck par'Ks has been agreed by the European Parliament. Patric Cunnane reports.
THE EUROPEAN Parliament (EP) has launched a pan-European pilot project to build secure truck parks. This follows a study it sponsored which revealed the organised theft of CVs and their loads costs the EU an estimated €8.2bri (E5.9bn) a year. The report also noted that more than 90,000 truck drivers are affected every year.
An initial 6,5m (.£3.6m) is available for the scheme, which will encourage private/public partnership ventures. Five projects have been approved, including some in France and Germany.
The study and the scheme were the intiatives of two MEPs on the EP's Transport and Tourism Committee: Corien Wortmann-Kool from the Netherlands and Anne Jensen from Denmark.
Wortmann-Kool recently opened a secure parking site in the Netherlands that's supported by private finance. She reports that insurance companies are taking an interest because they have so much to lose from freight theft: "Transport crime is not yet a priority, but we have a good chance of elevating it over the next few years."
To this end the European Commission will host a conference on truck crime early in 2009; an initiative which Wortmann-Kool describes as encouraging: "Anne Jensen and 1 started as two lonely voices three years ago with the realisation that police do not give enough attention to this sort of crime. We really need to achieve results for the drivers on our highways.We should look after their safety as well as demanding that they adhere to drivers' hours regulations," The study, Organised Theft of Commercial Vehicles and Their Loads in the European Union, details the attacks drivers face. Criminals are impersonating police officers, using gas to disable drivers and enter vehicles by brute force.
The study recommends that the exchange of information on the criminal organisations should be made a top priority for the enforcement agencies Europol and Eurojust. And it concludes that failing to tackle this growing problem could hinder the economic development of the EU.