The curtain slashers
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Damage to trailer curtains during attempted thefts costs operators thousands of pounds each year. What can be done to keep your curtains safe?
iV MI5: Joanna Bourke
HIJACKS, DIESEL SIPHONING and theft are just some of the crimes recorded in the freight sector by specialist police unit TruckPol. However, the phenomenon of curtain slashing has become a time-consuming and costly burden to haulage businesses.
Scary figures Channel Five's recent documentary Eddie Stobart: Trucks & Trailers revealed some scary figures: the group said it sometimes endures 550 cases of curtain slashing a month, costing £21,000 to repair.
Eddie Stobart MD for general distribution Dave Pickering tells CM: "It is a big problem." Truck Pol doesn't provide detailed figures on curtain-slashing incidents. However, the unit's head, DC Sue Coutts. says for the year to date, the numbers are broadly in line with last year, adding that there has been a decline in reports over the past few months.
However, she says this does not necessarily mean there has been a decrease in the number of cases. "I think not as many incidents are reported to us, mainly because our single points of contacts are being redeployed or given extra workloads in the changes in the UK police forces.
"We will continue to work with all the UK forces to encourage accurate reporting. I would encourage hauliers and
drivers to use us by reporting crimes to TruckPol,she says.
Aspray 24 MD Stuart Laight says: "Most crimes are speculative or opportunistic attempts to look inside a vehicle when the driver has walked away. We get some attacks on standing trailers at customers' premises, where it seems it is easier to cut the curtain to look inside rather than open the sheet or rear doors."
Black spot Unlike Stobart Group, Aspray 24 tends to avoid tramping and drivers endeavour to return to one of the firm's depots at the end of the day. Liight adds: -But we do have limited [numbers of vehicles with] reinforced sheets in certain black spots, such as in Liverpool, central London and Glasgow."
UK hauliers should be looking to their continental friends on how to protect their vehicles, says Mark Jones, operations director at Powys-based Speed (The Complete Carrier).
"Curtain slashing is a big problem throughout Europe and some continental hauliers use trailers with reinforced curtains.
"The curtains have thin wire in them to make the shape of small boxes all along the trailer, not all the way to the roof, but as high as a person could reach. This means they can poke their knives only in a small square of the trailer at one time, not run the knife the whole way down the side. I am surprised more hauliers have not got trailers of this spec in their fleets."
Normal not exception Rase Distribution MD Geoff Hill insists: "Curtain slashing has regrettably become the norm, rather than an exception.
"I agree that the incidents are costing us a significant amount every month. not in the thousands, but we have not got the number of trailers that Stobart operates.
-We carry out our own repairs in our workshop and have determined that we get more curtain damage and attempted fuel theft when vehicles are parked overnight in truckstops.
"Some of the recognised truckstops are notorious for curtain damage and drivers are requested to avoid them if possible. It is, however, difficult to avoid them all when complying with drivers' hours legislation," he adds.
I lilt believes that not all supposedly secure lorry parks live up to their name. He continues: "This is disturbing as most of these areas are well lit and have CCTV in operation. However, it is difficult to cover all areas of a full truck park.
"Does this then point to other drivers as the perpetrators or to villains who are impersonating the role of a legitimate driver? Truckstop operators are also keen to charge drivers premium rates for parking but appear reluctant to compensate any damage."
Hill also refers to the same armoured curtains that Jones mentions. hut warns they are expensive and can be difficult to repair.
Avoiding curtain-siders NYK Logistics UK has tried to stamp out the problem by not using curtainskiers altogether and working closely with the police.
Mark Harvey, head of group security at NYK Logistics, says: "We use hard-sided vehicles for certain products where security and load integrity is paramount. Curtain-sided vehicles are used where loading and unloading issues dictate such. Fortunately, our security strategies, site security, training and awareness programmes displace curtain-slashing incidents.
"Where such vehicles come to NYK from third parties or sub-contractors and evidence of curtain slashing is apparent, we work closely with police and contractors to report and investigate, such by capturing, preserving and providing evidence to assist in identifying the perpetrators. These actions provide additional case hardening and a deterrent where such become known to criminals," Harvey says.
Slashing hotspots Haulnet, the public-private body set up by logistics security consultancy BRM Solutions, is trying to alert drivers — via emails and text messages — of slashing hotspots. Nonetheless, even with such messages, the crimes are still occurring throughout the UK.
TruckPol's Coutts insists police forces are not ignoring the problem. She claims a lot of forces, particularly those in the Midlands running up to North Yorkshire, are being more proactive in targeting offenders. She admits there is no one solution to the crime, but reiterates the voice of most: "I can't stress enough the need to use reputable safe lorry parks where needed instead of overnight parking in lay-hys."
Although, from the accounts above, 'secure' parking isn't a perfect answer, it's the only realistic one. As for so many crimes, we find ourselves asking the government to take the lead on this matter. •