Truck theft gangs ar nder attack
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• Four people at Manchester Crown Court who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle and steal more than 40 trucks over a period of several years are now awaiting sentence.
Greater Manchester police are understood to be investigating the theft of another 190 commercial vehicles from an area stretching from Staffordshire to Cumbria.
One haulier, whose two Foden eight-wheel tippers were stolen in 1988 and 1989, was among several operators whose vehicles were found in bits in a disused Manchester mill in December 1989. Ken Longthorne of Skipton in North Yorkshire says the vehicles were broken up for parts, although they were still identifiable.
Truck thefts are also under attack in Essex, where a scheme to combat truck thefts is gathering pace. Truckwatch, set up by Essex police and Chris Wright of the Road Haulage Association last year, now has the support of about 35 operators.
Kent police have established a similar 'fax ring' of hauliers and drivers who contact each other with information on or sightings of stolen vehicles. The Metropolitan Police are also interested in setting up a Truckwatch scheme, but because thefts are more widespread there they face a different problem, says Sergeant Neil Seymour of the Essex police.
He is confident that the system will now be taken up by forces around the country and is soon to give a presentation to senior officers in London to outline the benefits of the scheme.
Seymour hopes to win over more hauliers to Truckwatch by giving a talk at the Distribution Security conference at Cranfield School of Management on 23 May. He admits that there have been a few problems with the pilot scheme to far, and because details of recovered stolen vehicles have not been given out via the fax rings it is difficult to guess how many thefts may have been foiled as a result of Truckwatch.
Truckwatch organisers might have to consider offering rewards to drivers who report seeing missing trucks, says Seymour.
Police have reported several successes in busting truck theft rings recently, though many hauliers still complain that forces are not interested enough in stolen vehicles.
Late last year 18 people appeared in court at Grays in Essex charged with conspiring to steal trucks following a police investigation called Operation Daylight into the theft of 150 trucks in South-East England.
Among hauliers to suffer from truck thefts is AR Williams of Oundle which experienced a spate of lorry thefts last year, losing a trailer and a tri-axle unit within a month. Other hauliers in the area had lost 20 vehicles in the same period.