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
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
Lorry Thefts Do wn By £65,000
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
DURING the six months January to June, 1962, the value of lorry thefts in the Metropolitan Police District was £354.000. . This Year's six-monthly figure was £288,500. and details of a three-year comparison are shown in an accompanying table.
This reduction coincides with the inauguration of the Vehicle Observer Corps set up in July, 1962. by the vehicles security committee of the Road Haulage Association. Reporting on its first year's activities in London this week the committee's chairman. Mr. J. T. Brown. revealed that the corps had been called out on 595 occasions and had recovered 18 vehicles. 12 of which were loaded. I-k added that there was a tendency on the part of thieves to turn away from the larger vehicle with its more valuable load and to concentrate on the smaller lorries and vans where perhaps. security precautions were not so good.
The decline in the value of picking.; made by lorry thieves coincided with an improvement in the security methods adopted by operators and the increased activities of the corps. Of the total of 595 calls, 377 were north of the Thames and 218 south of the river, whilst 319 of the total related to vehicles with an unladen weight over 3 tons.
Commenting on the progrts.4 the corps, Mr. Brown said that the number of vehicles recovered was relatively small but the number wat increasing and becoming more persistent. In the first month of operation (July. 1962) one vehicle was recovered. Last week two vehicles out of the four reported missing were recovered—one within half an hour. This improvement, he said, was due to better techniques and a larger corps which now had over 200 cars on call.
As soon as details of a stolen veh:el: are received from the police, telephone calls alert either the whole corps or I hos: in a particuar London district. Each vehicle with driver and observer makes a double patrol of a pre-arranged list of streets, and the police are at once informed if a stolen vehicle is located.
Despite these achievements Mr. Brown appealed for substantially more support for the observer corps which at th.: moment was largely dependent upon Aand B-licensed operators. Additional support from ancillary users would be welcome.
Regarding activities outside London. Mr. Brown reported that a similar corps had already been set up in Boston, Lines, whilst it had just been decided to have one in Hertfordshire. Indicative of police co-operation with the scheme, Mr. Brown said that he had been invited to give a series of three lectures on vehicle security at the police training college at Stafford. in addition to talks at police headquarters at Chelmsford and Welwyn Garden City.