Theft spate prompts renewed calls for secure truck parking
Reports of a recent series of thefts from supermarket lorries in south east England have led to fresh calls by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) for improved levels of safe and secure truck parking, in order to reduce freight crime.
Late last month it was reported that products such as alcohol, cigarettes and clothing had been stolen from the backs of lorries after leaving supermarket distribution centres in Essex, Hampshire and Kent – with some drivers said to have been targeted up to eight times a day, leading to union calls for improved security.
According to the Times newspaper, the criminal networks involved had been targeting specific vehicles, and researching their delivery routes and likely stopping points.
The RHA said thousands of additional safe, secure parking spaces were required to help stymie the ability of organised crime gangs to target high-value cargoes.
“We estimate we need another 11,000 [sites] across the country,” the association told the newspaper.
“This would make it harder for organised crime gangs to target HGVs and would give truckers greater peace of mind when they’re parked up overnight on the road.”
The RHA argues that the true national scale of freight crime is difficult to understand due to the method of recording by the authorities. It has called on government to introduce a specific freight crime offence, complete with “appropriate sentencing options” that would “reflect the seriousness” of such criminality. This would be in contrast to the way such incidents are currently recorded: generally as ‘theft from a motor vehicle’, placing high-value cargo theft in the same bracket as personal effects being stolen from a passenger car.
In July, Ashton Cull, the RHA’s public affairs manager, told BBC Breakfast: “It’s remarkable that theft of perhaps millions of pounds’ worth of goods from the back of a truck is in many ways recorded the same as an opportunistic theft of a purse from… a personal vehicle.
“It needs to be clearer; the impact needs to be seen.”
He added: “Freight crime is low risk, high reward for highly organised criminals. This is happening every night in truck stops across the UK.”
He said that NaVCIS, the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, was “doing great work in terms of really bringing this problem to light” – but added that it was currently funded mostly by industry, and called on the home secretary Yvette Cooper to make more money available for its “really important work”.
RHA policy lead James Barwise told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the 5,300+ incidents of freight crime last year, which saw £68 million worth of goods stolen, were not “victimless”, highlighting the “huge impact on drivers and their mental health”. He said the RHA wanted to hear more from the new transport secretary, Louise Haigh, regarding her support for the sector, and specifically on secure lorry parking.
“Without assistance from the government on planning reform, we won’t get the secure facilities that drivers and businesses need to feel safe when doing their job,” he warned.
