Police 'break up gni ruck theft ring'
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by Juliet Parish / Police believe they have broken up a gang responsible for the theft of a number of trucks after discovering more than Lim worth of stolen truck parts in an east London warehouse. Six men have been arrested.
The officers, from Scotland Yard's stolen vehicle investigation squad, broke into a disused bus depot in Camberwell last Wednesday and found eight skips full of gearboxes, engines and other parts. Three men, aged 20, 34 and 46, were arrested at the site; three others were arrested later at other locations in south London. All have been released on police bail pending further enquiries.
Also in the warehouse was a £40,000 Volvo truck, stolen from Slade Green, Kent on 24 November, and two truckmounted concrete pumps — these rigs have been valued at £250,000 each. One was stolen from Belvedere, Kent on 24 November; the other from Mitcham, south London in October.
Police believe they have won a significant victory in the war against truck theft: an average of 100 trucks are stolen or broken into every day: "It is clearly very significant when you recover such a large number of vehicles like this," says Detective Chief Inpector James Reynolds. "We have made inroads into an organised ring of lorry thieves whose methods are very sophisticated." The RHA is warning drivers to be particularly careful in the run up to Christmas; this is a period notorious for thefts because of the high value of goods carried.
Drivers should avoid parking on laybys on the Al2 and A45 which is bandit country as far as truck thefts go because there are a lot of high value electrical goods coming in from the ports, says the association. It adds that drivers should also beware of bogus warehouse staff trying to re-direct them to other stores to trick them into off loading their cargoes.
Such ploys are on the increase according to the Essex police who, with the Metropolitan and Merseyside forces, are dealing with the UK's highest level of truck thefts.
Last year 226 lorry loads worth £5.5m were stolen in Essex — and 233 lorry loads have already been stolen so far this year, says Essex police intelligence officer Rod Walker.
Hauliers in Humberside are also suffering from an epidemic of truck thefts. Police in the county warn rural operators not to leave their trucks unattended. One of the latest victims in Humberside, DG Taylor Commercials of Hutton Cranswick, lost a Scania 113 and Volvo F12 from separate sites on the same night.
Marlow, Bucks-based haulier R Dodds also had two vehicles stolen last month. "It makes you really sick; you struggle to meet the payment of trucks and when they are almost paid for, they get stolen," says director John Dodds.