by Elizabeth Daly • Police are investigating a disposal route
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for stolen Ford Transit vans into Southern Ireland. Thieves are exploiting a loophole in Irish law and reregistering Transits in the country.
The joint investigation by police and the Irish authorities follows a crackdown on Transit theft. As part of an initiative to combat the illegal Transit trade, Merseyside Police targeted Transit vans for a five week period at the beginning of the year in spot checks.
Of the 500 Transit vans stopped, seven were found to be stolen and 15 were fitted with stolen engines.
Resulting enquiries have led the force to obtain eight search warrants to examine garage premises. Twenty vans, or the remains of vans, were identified in addition to 34 other vehicles.
Greater Manchester Police have identified a similar problem with 72% of Transit thefts unresolved. Thefts of Ford Transits is a multi
million pound industry: most are cannibalised and their engines sold into the secondhand parts market or shipped to the Third World.
Last week Commercial Motor revealed that fleet users could sue Ford for compensation following large scale Transit thefts. (CM 23-29 June).
DS King-Williams of Merseyside Police says 80% of stolen Transits are never recovered, compared to the national average of 33% for all vehicles.
"The majority of the thefts are diesel Transits, and we have evidence that they are being stripped for their engines: a significant proportion of which are being shipped out to the Third World via South America", he says.