Truck stolen outside chippy III Drivers are being reminded not
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to leave their keys in their cabs when popping out for a snack. The warning comes from Stoke-on-Trent haulier Barry Proctor Services which earlier this month had a new 15-tonne Iveco Ford Cargo stolen (see Crimeline, page 30).
Proctor's driver nipped out of the cab to buy some fish and chips at Lye, near Stourbridge, and left the keys in the ignition. On his return just minutes later he found an empty parking space.
"It's the driver's fault," concedes Proctor, "but thefts are becoming so common now that perhaps people need reminding to take care."
Vehicles with lorry-mounted cranes seem to be flavour of the month and Proctor reels off a list of local operators who have fallen prey to the opportunistic thieves in recent months, including AE Hawkins of Cannock, Darlaston Builders Merchants and Amies & Co of Walsall.
He adds that he was dismayed by the attitude of Stourbridge police who he says took very little interest in the crime, despite the restaurant owner admitting it was not the first incident of this kind outside his shop.
Proctor sits on the Road Haulage Association's security committee and says he is going to propose that the RHA and Freight Transport Association jointly fund the employment of an expolice vehicle theft investigator to help tackle the problem. El A West Midlands truck driver's cab exploded last week just moments after he left it to get a cup of coffee. Andy Robinson, who works for West Midlands firm GA Transport, started up his Mercedes-Benz Actros unit and turned on the cab heater. Leaving it to warm up, he went to get a drink only to see the unit's windscreen blown out in an explosion which engulfed it in flames. Barry Arnold, GA's maintenance manager, thinks it might have been caused by the cab heater—Mercedes is now looking into the cause of the blast.