'Why should they be bothered putting a kingpin clamp on them?'
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'm constantly staggered by the way hauliers allow their drivers to abandon valuable trailers in out-of-the-way loybys or deserted industrial estates without any kind of protection.
About two months ago I was driving along a local bypass and saw a very expensive trombone trailer with a 60ft narrow boat on it just left in a layby. How long it was there I don't know—but I wasn't the only one to see it. It was remarked upon that it would be something very nice to come along and hitch underneath.
Once a driver drops his trailer in a country layby or quiet industrial estate it's then down to the police to protect the trailer, but they've got enough on their plate as it is.
I've almost grit to the stage of going out myself and clamping abandoned, trailers with a kingpin lock just to see what the reaction would be—but I don't think that would go down very well with the police!
The road haulage industry in general is not very good at protecting its assets. The attitude of: "it won't happen to me—and if it does I'm covered by insurance" is certainly all-too prevalent. And as for premiums going up as a result of theft, one haulier tell me he could lose three trailers in a year without his premium changing. Operators always leave it to the last moment to consider security, or in some cases beyond too late—like five minutes after they've had a trailer pinched. And then they ring up and say: "can you be here with x amount of kit tomorrow?"—but we don't carry that much stock. The trouble is we've all been cushioned by the insurance companies in the past and until they insist that every parked trailer should be immobilised then nothing is likely to change. It's really a matter of educating the driver, perhaps to the extent of paying him 50p or El each time to fit his trailer with a clamp. We all tend to be lazy, but for the sake of five minutes what have you got to lose? We've found that smaller hauliers appreciate security better as they're more hands-on and understand that they've got more to lose.
However, it almost seems as if business is so bad for a lot of people that rather than spend El 20 on front-line security in the shape of a kingpin clamp they'd rather lose the trailer and have the insurance money to reinvest in the business to keep it going that much longer. It's certainly the impression I've gained from several firms. One company we went to see with 200 trailers told us that they bought in their trailers at £250 apiece so why should they be bothered putting a kingpin clamp on them as they were insured for a lot more? We talk to other security equipment manufacturers regularly. One supplier, who is probably the biggest in Britain, tells me that no matter how hard we try we'll not get through to people—even if they've had a trailer stolen.
Even operators that do lose equipment don't seem to learn from their experience. We had one, who'd had a trailer stolen, who had taken a kingpin clamp from us on trial from December to February. When I phoned up to see how they'd got on with it I was told I could come ancl pick it up. It was spotless—it hadn't been near a trailer! The British attitude to theft may well be it won't happen to me—but I wouldn't like to bet on it.
• if you want to sound off about a rood transport issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane.