• A pre-Christmas crackdown on lorry theft is being launched
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
in Northamptonshire. The month-long police campaign is part of Operation Demolition, which kicked off earlier this year to review the wider problems of lorry crime.
Northamptonshire is known to be a prime target area for truck theft—loads worth more than £250,000 were stolen in the county between November 1996 and May 1997.
The four main aims of the pre-Christmas initiative are to: • Encourage hauliers and the public to report lorry crime on a special hotline (0800 731 8392); • Raise hauliers' awareness of crime prevention; • Strengthen links between the industry and police; • Liaise with other police forces to fight organised crime.
The police say many hauliers are failing to carry out basic security checks to ensure their locks are secure and tarpaulins are fastened properly. Others are
vulnerable because they do not use proper lorry parks, and some hauliers do not even report suspicious incidents.
"We often only get to hear about a crime when the driver gets back to his haulage company," says Detective Inspector Andy Tennet. Northamptonshire police will be liaising with the national CV intelligence desk in Essex during the campaign.
Last year an estimated £46m of goods were stolen from trucks. Tennet says the campaign will try to get the message across to consumers that buying stolen goods off the back of a lorry "only perpetuates the cycle and increases all our insurance premiums".