1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164 
Stop thief!
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 50
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A trailer and load is worth a lot of money, which is why it pays to safeguard your assets. We look at some of the devices on offer to prevent light-fingered individuals from running off with your prized possessions
Words; Steve Banner When it comes to the combating theft of and from trailers, hauliers should assume they are on their own and take steps accordingly.
That is the stark warning from Don Armour, manager, security and load theft, at the Freight Transport Association (FTA).
"I don't want to be too harsh when it comes to criticising the police, but the fact remains that while some forces treat this kind of crime as a high priority, many do not," he observes.
"Sometimes you will get a good response when you report an incident, but sometimes it will be an indifferent one," he says.
"This is despite the fact that a trailer and its load can be worth anywhere from £30,000 to £.40,000 to as much as f2m," he continues. "The FTA would certainly like to see the police focus more resources on fighting this type of theft."
By taking steps. Armour does not mean that a worried operator should equip himself with a baseball bat and lie waiting for thieves. Tempting as such tactics may he, they are likely to land the individual concerned in serious legal trouble if somebody is injured as a consequence.
A wiser approach is to invest in an array of security devices that will hopefully foil criminals and prompt them to try their luck elsewhere.
EXTERNAL LOCKS
One of the best-known providers of truck and trailer security devices is Maple Fleet Services. Marketing manager Jonathan Richards suggest that hauliers should start by securing the trailer's back doors.
"We offer externally mounted locks that cost from £200,he says. "Made from hardened steel, they go over the external locking bars found on barn doors, rather like a clamp. They're effective and a visible deterrent, but there is the drawback that the driver will either have to be given the key or a duplicate key will have to be sent to the trailer's destination."
If a driver has the key, then thieves may physically force him to open up: and if duplicate keys are in circulation, there is the risk that they may fall into the wrong hands.
Maple's portfolio also includes locks that stop barn doors being opened by securing them to the trailer frame. Remember that any externally mounted lock needs to be robustly constructed, not just to resist the attention of thieves, but also to stand up to the hammering it will suffer if a driver is careless when reversing a trailer up to a A Maple barn door loading dock. clamps are simple A less-expensive alternative to a clamp-type lock is a yet effective latch lock. Key-operated. and available from Viper, it features a bolt that drops down to prevent the door handle being opened. And the price? Yours for just £99.
Another option is to lit electronically-controlled but pneumatically-operated slam locks that can be released only if a PIN number is keyed in. or they are shown an RFID key card. "It's a bit like the electronic room-locking system used in hotels,Richards says.
The PIN number can be emailed to the trailer's destination, which has to he preferable to despatching a key. What's more, the trailer can be 'geolenced., so that the doors can be opened only within a designated geographical area — the consignee's warehouse, for instance — on certain days and at certain times. Using a telematics A Viper latch lock system also allows the operator to lock and unlock the prevents the door handle doors remotely. from being opened Maple offers such a package under the Outlock 10 banner. It records who unlocked the doors, when and where. The lock costs from about £1,000. installed and comes with long-life batteries that can power it through more than 10,000 door-opening cycles over live years.
"Battery life is often a problem for operators looking to secure trailers, and it makes sense for batteries to be linked to the trailer's electrical system so that they can be recharged every time the trailer is hooked up to a tractor unit," Richards says.
How about fitting solar panels to your trailer to keep the batteries charged? "They can be useful, but they need a regular source of light," he replies (see CM 15 May).
They will not get enough light, however, if they are parked under cover for an extended period. Nor will they get a huge amount if they are left out in the open air in the UK's cloudy and grey, climate as they function best in strong sunshine — but they will get some, even in the most miserable weather.
What if a trailer has doors almost all the way down either one or both sides, as well as at the back for maximum ease of access? That is Finnish trailer maker Ekeri's speciality, and it can supply its trailers with a central locking system that secures all of them. It employs an airoperated cam lock on the side doors and an air-operated pin on the back doors.
Doors can be protected by a self-arming alarm, which emits a 120-decibel shriek if triggered.
While an alarm is often ignored, the row is likely to prompt a driver woken from his slumbers to grab his mobile and summon help if — perhaps understandably — he has no wish to leave the cab to investigate what is going on. The alarm can also be linked to a telematics system so that home base is alerted. Thieves may come along with a tractor unit and use it to haul the trailer off to an isolated yard so they can loot its contents at leisure. That is why it makes sense to secure all parked trailers with either landing legs that can be locked into the down position, or a kingpin lock.
You can buy a kingpin lock for about /85 to /90, but ensure it shrouds the kingpin's mounting bolts. Pownall's kingpin lock the company also markets a trailer brake lock that is being modified is one such good example. If the lock does not, then the criminally-inclined will unbolt it. drop it out, and bolt another one into place.
It also makes sense to select one with a rubber surround. That way, anybody who tries to grind it off will find that the shredded rubber melts and rapidly gums up the grinder. "If something like that is fitted then it can take more than six hours to grind it away,says Richards.
The big objection to kingpin locks is that they can be greasy and awkward to install, especially on a cold, wet day, so some drivers may avoid putting them in place. The
operator may also have a health and safety policy that forbids drivers from getting beneath a trailer.
"Instead consider fitting a red line lock that prevents the tractor unit's air hose from being attached to the trailer," suggests Richards. With that in place, the air supply cannot disengage the trailer's brakes, and the thief will have no option but to wind them off manually; not an appealing prospect.
"Also, they stop employees driving off accidentally with a trailer that is unroadworthy," he says.
Air line locks are available from £50 each.
TELEMAT1CS
Any telematics system fitted will hopefully incorporate a tracking function that will allow you to see where your trailer is if it goes walkabout and help you get it back.
Marking the trailer's frame and various components with your postcode should also aid recovery. So should scattering your property with microdots that incorporate your postcode and show up under infrared light, so should investing in a lurid and highly-noticeable livery, and so should painting the trailer's fleet number on the roof.
Unfortunately, many stolen trailers are found either burnt out because the thieves who have taken the load want to destroy any evidence that might incriminate them, or are stuffed into a container and shipped overseas before the owners discover they have gone. Their eventual recipients may not ask too many questions about where they have come from and a coat of paint can conceal a lot of evidence.
While the more sophisticated security devices do not come cheap. Richards points out that the cost can be amortised over a trailer's life with its first owner of perhaps seven or eight years.
"Don't forget that as haulage gets more competitive, being able to offer customers a high degree of security has to be a good selling point." he says. -And if you work on the Continent, it will help to keep illegal immigrants, as well as thieves, out of your trailer." •