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p erhaps it was a bizarre coincidence, or maybe somebody was
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planning the biggest cheese and wine party in Britain's history, but when two lorries— one carrying 18,000 bottles of Sicilian red and white plonk, the other three tonnes of mozzarella—had their consignments hijacked on the same day last November, it highlighted a disturbing increase in truck theft involving violent attacks on innocent drivers.
As the wine lorry was parked between London's Blackwall and Rotherhithe tunnels, a white van pulled in front and two men jumped out. One pointed a handgun at the truck driver, the other produced a knife. They forced him out of the vehicle, drove it away and later abandoned it—along with the empty trailer—in London's East End.
Other drivers have been even more unfortunate. In December, a trucker from Essex was returning to his vehicle at Watford Gap Services on the M i early one morning when he was threatened by a gunman. tied up and bundled into the back of the truck. An hour later the vehicle stopped and four men unloaded the cargo of designer clothes— worth several thousand pounds—before assaulting the helpless driver. The vehicle was later abandoned in Tamworth, Staffordshire with the driver still tied up in the back. He was eventually rescued by some other drivers and taken to hospital.
Disturbing rise
Although theft from trucks has always been a problem, concerns are growing within the industry at what appears to be a growing trend towards hijacking of drivers and vehicles. Night-time raids on parked curtain-sided vehicles remain a constant headache but in recent months there also seems to have been a disturbing rise in crimes where the entire vehicle is taken complete with its cargo—and its driver, The fad that this comes on the back of a spate of 'carjacking attacks—in which raiders force expensive models to stop and steal them when the driver gets out—is probably pure coincidence. But it has raised concerns that some of these crimes are carried out with such precision and knowledge of the vehicles contents that organised crime is targeting Britain's road haulage industry for its easy pickings.
"It's of real concern," says Road Haulage Association security expert Chrys Rarnpley. "It's big business and it's all down to organised crime. The majority of these crimes are by organised gangs, especially the high-value stuff.
And because of the sophistication of the security equipment on trucks these days, it has upped the stakes so that criminals are becoming more violent. There's more tracking equipment and better surveillance. One of the worst cases I heard of was when the criminals deliberately broke a driver's ankles so he couldn't get away and raise the alarm."
The threat of violence makes truck hijacking a high-profile crime. Yet official statistics gathered by the Essex Police National Stolen Lorry Load team reveal that hijacking represents a small proportion of the overall number of truck-related crimes.
Violent attacks
In zoo', out of just more than 3,500 reported incidents—including thefts and attempted thefts from vehicles on the road and in warehouses—only 53 involved trucks being hijacked. This was slightly down on the 79 reported in the previous year and the 59 cases documented in 1999. But already this year there has been a spate of violent attacks, which suggests that they are becoming more frequent.
Despite the comparatively low number of attacks, truck hijacking has potentially very high returns for the gangs involved. National Stolen Lorry Load desk data shows that the total value of loads stolen in the year 2000 came to some t8.4m. That's more than double the value of items stolen the previous year. One job alone—the daring theft of a lorry load of mobile phones on the M25 in Surrey— was worth an estimated LI.5m.
More worryingly, the same data also reveals that thieves resorted to violence, or threats of violence, in 69 of the 79 cases. In the worst attacks they used handguns. shotguns and even in one instance an electric cattle prod/stun gun to intimidate drivers. Other weapons used in these attacks included knives, hammers, crowbars, baseball bats, screwdrivers and gas sprays.
Many incidents take place when target trucks are stationary at traffic lights or road junctions but gangs also resort to masquerading as traffic police or staging fake accidents to trick drivers into stopping.
Inside knowledge
Such crimes need a considerable degree of planning, from having a driver who can handle the vehicle without attracting suspicion, to lining up a network of buyers to offload the goods. Many hijacked trucks carry no obvious livery to suggest what they contain, which makes it highly unlikely these crimes are random or opportunistic. Instead, experts believe, some at least must be organised with inside knowledge.
"It's very difficult to prove that but, with a lot of this organised crime you think 'well, how did they know what was coming?'," says Rampley. "Recently there was a case at Felixstowe where a container was taken, yet it had arrived earlier than it should have done. My own feeling is it was an inside job but you can't prove it."
Another example was the theft of i12,5,000 worth of whisky in Glasgow in December by a gang who threatened the truck driver with a knife. This incident, which followed an almost identical crime a month earlier in the same city, was unusual because the truck had no markings and neither did the trailer.
Rampley says the police have been slow to recognise truck crime as serious. However. with evidence emerging that much of it is directly or indirectly related to the illegal drugs trade, some forces are beginning to be more proactive about tackling the problem. In the West Midlands, for example, a team of officers has been set up dedicated solel tackling truck and trailer thefts.
However, the Home Office says it does have any specific plans to tackle the prob of truck-related crime.
Truck movements
Freight Transport Association spokesr Geoff Dossetter says the planning and em Lion of these thefts highlights the need haulage operators to be more cauti about the amount of information give ou truck movements.
"It's definitely happening more and rr and this emphasises the need for operator keep as secure as possible the details of tr movements once they're out on the road. keep the number of staff who need to aware of security arrangements to a m mum," he warns. ETA safety advice for dri, includes varying schedules and routes much as possible—particularly if dril make the same journey frequently—and talking about their load in public or over radio or mobile phone.
Commercial solutions are also availa using satellite communications technolog track your vehicle (see feature, page 30).
But in the meantime, if organised hijz ing really is on the increase, it is likel need a great deal more concerted actior the police and the road transport industr protect drivers' safety—especially as hijackers will stop at nothing to succeed.