MP tables freight crime bill as industry concern grows

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has welcomed a move by Rachel Taylor, MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for freight and logistics, to raise awareness at Westminster of the scourge of serious organised freight crime.

Ms Taylor has tabled a ten-minute rule bill, a procedure that enables individual MPs to bring issues of concern to the attention of parliament. The bill, which has the support of local hauliers in Ms Taylor’s constituency as well as the RHA, calls on the government to introduce a specific crime code for freight crime, which both the police and industry have argued would make a significant difference in tackling the issue.

Without a specific crime code, major freight thefts are often categorised in the same manner as thefts from personal vehicles, says the RHA, thereby hindering the police in tracking and catching freight criminals.

The association cites recent figures from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Police Service (NaVCIS) suggesting that between 2023 and 2024, the total estimated value of goods stolen in freight crime incidents increased by 63 per cent to more than £110 million. But it says that without a dedicated crime code, the true extent of the problem is difficult to quantify.

Ten-minute rule bills do not often make it onto the statute book, but are frequently employed by backbench MPs to raise wider awareness of important issues.

In her motion for leave to bring in the bill last month, Rachel Taylor explained that almost a fifth of her constituents work in the freight and logistics sector, and she became chair of the APPG in order to ensure they had a voice in parliament.

“Since becoming an MP, I have had the pleasure of visiting many of these businesses to see how they are providing varied opportunities for people in North Warwickshire and Bedworth,” she said.

“I want the logistics sector to be something young people in my constituency are excited to be part of, and that means we must tackle freight crime so they can feel safe in their jobs.

“I am proud that North Warwickshire and Bedworth contributes so much to our national economy by getting goods and medical supplies to the people up and down the country who need them.

“However, from speaking to drivers and businesses across the country, it is clear that one of the biggest issues facing this industry is organised freight crime.”

In November, the APPG launched a report on freight crime in conjunction with the RHA, NaVCIS and freight businesses, which aimed to provide a framework for how the government could secure supply chains. Its key recommendations included the endorsement and support of coordinated standards for secure parking; ensuring that planning policy reforms consider the needs of hauliers and take supply chain security into account; the launch of a national parking programme to boost provision; and increased support and resources for the police.

“Our report highlighted a key misconception,” said Ms Taylor. “Too many people think theft from a van or lorry is low-level opportunistic crime; this is not true. Freight crime is committed by organised criminal gangs. It is dangerous, and it has cost the UK economy £1 billion since 2020. More action is urgently needed.”

While welcoming engagement by the Home Office and Department for Transport with the campaign, and acknowledging a reduction in crime at truck stops as a result of government investment in safe parking, she insisted that more action was needed.

“I visited Corley services in my constituency to see how it is tackling freight crime,” she told MPs.

“Even though it has introduced measures to make drivers and parked vehicles safer, it is clear that more must be done.”

Ms Taylor explained how she had spoken to Dave Hands, the managing director of LTS Global Solutions, a logistics provider situated within her constituency, about the impact of freight crime on his operation.

“The company experienced six fuel theft incidents last year, each of which significantly impacted the business,” she explained.

“LTS loses a day of deliveries and must replace the stolen fuel, pay a call-out fee to repair the vehicle and supply fuel to get it to the nearest garage. This has to stop. This type of crime can often be violent, with organised gangs targeting drivers sleeping in laybys, as they know that is when they are most vulnerable to theft.

“In February 2024, five men threatened a driver in an Essex lay-by with a handgun before stealing his cargo, leaving the driver terrified. Despite an extensive area search, the police did not identify any suspects.

“Similarly, in West Yorkshire, last summer, thieves threatened a driver with a hammer and stole £250,000-worth of products from the vehicle. Once again, no one was caught.”

She warned that freight criminals were becoming increasingly sophisticated: “They target warehouses where they know high-value goods will be stored and have stolen trailers laden with laptops, household appliances and medical supplies from transport hubs right across the midlands.

“Organised freight criminals seize opportunities of goods shortages to target cargo that is increasing in value, such as baby formula and personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

“In a particularly cruel case, freight criminals stole more than £1 million-worth of government- funded laptops meant for deprived children. Luckily, three men were caught and sent to prison.”

In the most extreme examples, she said, freight criminals were stealing from moving vehicles.

“Last year, a heavy goods vehicle was driving to Hinckley, when the driver realised that the lock had been cut while he was driving and that more than £3 million- worth of smartphones, watches and laptops had been stolen.

“This type of operation, where criminal gangs drive erratically to target and tailgate a moving vehicle, is dangerous to everyone on the road.”

Police were struggling to tackle the issue effectively, she warned, “because an organised gang stealing thousands of pounds worth of goods from a lorry and someone stealing a mobile phone from the passenger seat of a car are coded in the same way. I am sure that that does not make sense to anyone in this house. That is why this bill is needed.”

Assigning large-scale freight crime a specific code and classification would help police to deal with incidents more effectively in real time, she said, and call handlers could ask specific questions and follow procedures specific to the problem at hand. It would also enable the collection of meaningful data, she said.

“At the moment, the majority of data on freight crime is put together by NaVCIS, an organisation that receives no government funding. Police forces currently do not have to report their freight crime incidents, so there are counties for which we have no data at all on how much freight crime is taking place.

“A separate crime code would mean all police forces could track freight crime instances, target freight crime hotspots in their county and create a national strategy with other police forces to chase down perpetrators across counties.”

The bill is currently expected to receive a second reading in June.

Commenting, Richard Smith, RHA managing director, said: “Freight crime is becoming more serious, more organised, and more intelligence led.

“This is bad news for the industry and bad news for consumers.

“We’ll only know the true scale of the issue once the police have a specific crime code, and we welcome and support the steps that Rachel Taylor MP is taking to deliver on this.”

Dave Hands of LTS Global Solutions said: “Freight crime is a worsening problem that’s fast turning into a crisis. Hauliers up and down the country, including ourselves, are all falling victim of its destructive impact. If freight crime continues at its current rate, hauliers will be the ones paying the price.

“There are reports that freight crime could cost the UK logistics industry £6.1 billion by 2049, and with inflation that could rise to nearly £8 billion, which is just frightening. Recent years have shown the massive pressure the haulage industry is under, with over 500 businesses going bust in just 12 months. The threat of these incidents just adds to that pressure.

“We warmly welcome Rachel Taylor’s ten-minute rule bill on freight crime being tabled in parliament. Her hard stance on this matter has shone a spotlight on how vulnerable the industry is to such incidents and how lenient penalties have created an environment where organised criminals operate with impunity. We hope that ends with her new bill.”