🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes
Truck cargo thefts costing industry almost £500m
The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) has reported that there were more than 5,000 thefts of cargo from trucks in 2022 in the UK, with £66 million worth of goods stolen. But the true net cost could be closer to £460 million every year when hidden costs, such as damage to vehicles and vehicle downtime, are considered, according to experts in the Service.
THE SCALE OF THE ISSUE
“Businesses must be vigilant against this type of criminal activity,” says Denise Beedell, Senior Policy Manager at Logistics UK. “The perpetrators of freight crime tend to be skilled, organised, knowledgeable of supply chain processes and well-versed in tactics to evade detection.”
According to NaVCIS, a specialist police unit dedicated to developing and sharing intelligence to tackle vehicle finance crime, these thefts – committed by organised crime groups (OCGs) – are ‘low risk, high reward’, with perpetrators able to make significant profits from cargo thefts.
As reported in Motor Transport, Mike Dawber, field intelligence officer at NaVCIS, spoke on the issue at an Action Counters Terrorism corporate event on 27 October 2023.
“These gangs are not opportunists,” said Dawber, quoted in Motor Transport. “They understand the supply chain because they are often from a freight background.
“They know which hauliers carry what goods and where drivers take their rest breaks.”
“There are many reasons why freight crime continues to plague our industry,” says Beedell. “Limited police resources; a lack of secure, safe lorry parking facilities; and the absence of a central crime category or tag for these specific types of theft, which allows the scale of the issue to remain somewhat hidden from the authorities.”
VAN THEFT – A KEY ISSUE
“Theft of vans and the equipment inside them is also a key issue for our members,” says Beedell.
Logistics UK’s Van Security Report 2020 showed that, on average, organisations said they had items stolen from their vans four times in the previous 12 months, costing around £4,250 in total.
“The report also found that two-thirds of reported van content thefts included tools and more than half involved equipment, meaning businesses are typically expected to resource and replace tools and equipment due to theft once every three months,” continues Beedell.
“We want to see more robust vehicle security features developed for new vans and trucks to address these types of crime.
“We are also calling for social media platforms to remove instructional content for committing vehicle-related crime, especially in respect of commercial vans,” says Beedell.
Earlier in the summer, logistics businesses met in Parliament to discuss the issue of freight crime, with NaVCIS presenting data at these meetings on the types, prevalence and locations of this crime; businesses shared their experience, too.
These discussions included calls for freight crime to be made a specific offence, so that improved data is recorded and police forces are better incentivised to track and tackle it.
“In addition to financial loss, these crimes present safety risks to the drivers of the vehicles themselves and can have a profoundly negative impact on the mental health of victims; it is vital that government and organisations work together to put a stop to these crimes.
"We welcomed the Tell TVL initiative and urge operators to report vehicle crime incidents into this portal. All the data submitted is securely collated and shared with police to support national efforts to crack down on van crime.
"Registered users to the portal are able to receive anonymised data reports highlighting crime hotspots and targeted crime prevention advice,” concludes Beedell.
Published On: 02/11/2023 14:00:00
Comments Section
If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.
