LORRY THEFT LEADS TO NEW SECURITY SERVICE!:
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FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
DECOMINC; innocently involved in a
case of lorry hi-jacking two years ago when he was a corporal in the RAF hitching a lift home has led Mr. John Sheppard to launch a lorry security service relying largely on a two-way. radio network.
Mr. Sheppard. who now controls Sheppard's Transport Security Ltd., Dawley, Shropshire, was in a.cafe with a lorry driver when the latter's vehicle and £l3,000 worth of tea was stolen. This incident gave him the necessary idea, and his new firm intends to look after 800 vehicles operating in the Midlands and south and south-west England.. Nearly 460 have already been signed up.
Each lorry will be fitted with a radio. system, costing .E.3 to install, and .drivers will be in touch with five radio rooms in various parts of the region.
Mr. Sheppard says there will be "irregular " cheeks by radio on vehicles. both stationary and mobile, and immediate assistance could be given to a driver in distress because of a breakdown. accident or theft.
If a long-distance lorry were hi-jacked the search would swing into operation within minutes. If a driver fails to answer a check call, other lorries, patrol cars and the police will be told and given a full description of the vehicle. All drivers who report the position of the stolen vehicle will be paid a bonus by Mr. Sheppard's firm.
. Member lorries will carry an identification symbol to enable the mobile patrol cars to check them on roads and outside cafes. All radio rooms will be manned .24 hours it day and they will keep in constant touch with all vehicles in their region and pass position reports to the transport operations centre.
The centre will also gather in regular road condition reports front the Ministry of Transport and local police. In this way lorries can be directed away from congestions and save fuel.
Another service will be the finding of return loads for member lorries. About 700 firms have already agreed to take part in this scheme. The firrn will also be able to help in cases of breakdown.
One insurance company has offered members using this service a reduced rate at the end of one year: Angio/Relgian Agreements: John Hinchcliff and Son Ltd., South Elmsall. Yorks, and L. Van Gaever of Belgium (BerchemAntwerp) have set up a joint firm of road hauliers, Transcontinental Road Ferry NV. Located in Berchem-Antwerp. its Belgian franc capital is held equally by the parent companies. L. Van Gaever recently concluded a joint association with another British company, Ferrymasters Ltd., London. This was the creationin. Antwerp of Ferrymaster Transcontinente' NV.