News

Lorry crime has almost doubled over the last year but the Road Haulage Association (RHA) suspects that many more unreported freight crimes are going on. The latest TruckPol statistics show lorry crime rose by 83% in 2008, to 4,171 incidents, but the  RHA believes this would be higher if more HGV crimes were reported.

The freight crime intelligence unit, a division of the Association of Chief Police Officers' Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS), received 1,103 reports in the second quarter of 2008 and 556 in the same period of 2007. However, in the same period of 2006, 823 road freight crimes were reported.

The RHA's manager of infrastructure, Chrys Rampley, says many companies will not report a crime if the value of the stolen goods is below the threshold of an insurance claim. Between April and September 2008, the Metropolitan Police area accounted for the largest number of truck crimes with the majority of these being thefts of vehicles.

David Scott Smith, one of the RHA's South-East area managers, is not surprised by the figures. "London incurs a high number of HGVs which end up having  to park outside of a delivery point - not always the safest areas and prone to thieves," he says.

Inspector Simon Westwood of the Central Motorway Policing Group does not predict a change in trends, and warns lorry drivers that January is a key time for attacks because of the volume of sale goods being transported and shops needing to restock.