Two deck headline RHA warns against for lead story here layby parking after spate of thefts
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By Chris Tindall and Roger Brown THE ROAD HAULAGE Association (RHA) is warning drivers not to take risks and park in laybys after a series of high-value thefts along the A1 corridor prompted police to investigate.
North Yorkshire police says it is making enquiries into the theft of a load of freezers from the back of a curtainsider lorry that occurred in May near Sherburn in Elmet, but that an investigation into a similar case last month in which £16,000-worth of tyres were stolen just a few miles from the first incident has been completed with no arrests.
In both cases, the lorry drivers were asleep when the crimes were committed and, in the latest incident, the thieves attempted to steal the vehicle’s fuel, albeit unsuccessfully.
PC David Clark of Selby Police says: “The thieves must have taken some time to remove the load and there must have been at least two people involved. As well as stealing the tyres, they also attempted to enter the diesel tank.” RHA security manager Chrys Rampley says the police have been stepping up patrols along the A1 because of the HGV-related thefts. “The message always is don’t park in a layby. We say this all the time, but we know it’s difficult if there isn’t anywhere safe to park.” In the tyre theft case, it has been more than a month since officers spotted a large section of the curtain had been cut out of the side of a Slovakian-registered vehicle's trailer. Officers were conducting routine patrols of truck stops in the area at about 1.45am on 14 June and noticed the Slovakian-registered truck, which was parked in a layby on the A1 southbound carriageway in Kirk Smeaton at the junction with Middlefield Lane, had a large hole in the side of its trailer.
After the police woke the driver, who was asleep in his cab, he confirmed that between 85 and 100 Pirelli tyres, worth more than £16,000, had been stolen.
Two sizes of tyre, 17in and 19in, worth between £200 and £400 each, were taken.
Officers believe that a large vehicle must have pulled up alongside the vehicle to carry out the theft.
• Anyone with any information is being urged to contact PC David Clark on 0845 606 0247, quoting reference number 12110097321.