News

A West Yorkshire tanker operator warns that there is currently an epidemic of tanker thefts because the price of steel has made them valuable as scrap. Elland-based Alexander Peel, whose firm AW Peel was founded in 1912, has lost two tankers in the last 12 months. He says other operators in Yorkshire have also had tankers stolen and alleges that the police can do little to help. "The problem is there is no [police] co-ordination," adds Peel. "You ring the station in Huddersfield and they have  no idea about thefts that have taken place just up the road. The last time I spoke to a sergeant he was trying to be very helpful, but he gave me no hope."

Peel believes the tankers go straight to scrap merchants which can break them up in a few hours: "We think they are going into Lancashire and being chopped up. They get a high price for stainless steel these days." Sometimes thieves take just the tanker lids, Peel reports: "If you have three lids taken you can't use the tanker until the lids are replaced, which is not something you can do in a day." DCI Andy Round of Truckpol, the national road freight crime unit, says he is not surprised if more tankers are being stolen, although he adds that no firm figures are available.

"Given the price of steel, it seems very likely they are being taken for scrap," he says. "Metal thefts are a national issue and tanker thefts may well be something we have to look into." But for Peel any action will come too late - the tanker thefts  have made him resolve to get out of the business: "I'm fairly near retirement age anyway, but I don't see how I can go on. "This business has been handed down from father to son. I have three daughters, but there really isn't much left to hand on."