Truckers team up to put brakes on crime

Mar 12 2008 by Andrew Hirst, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A SCHEME designed to thwart lorry thieves has teamed up with Crimestoppers.

TruckWatch began in South Yorkshire in 1997, but has since spread out throughout the rest of the region.

It is a membership scheme for lorry drivers and transport firms and was set up to help put the brakes on freight crime. It shares vital anti-crime information.

TruckWatch now has more than 200 company members and covers more than 18,000 vehicles across the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

If a member’s vehicle is stolen it is reported to TruckWatch and the details of the theft are circulated to all other members.

This means that there will be more than 10,000 pairs of eyes keeping a look out for the stolen vehicle.

The scheme covers more than 350 miles of motorway network in the region, including main routes such as the M62, M1, M18, A1(M) and M621.

Freight crime is estimated to cost the British economy £200m each year.

Now the scheme is about to link up with Crimestoppers to make it easier for people to pass on information about both offenders and incidents.

Crimestoppers' regional spokesman Det Con Kevin Mosley – who used to work on the beat in Huddersfield – said: “Raising awareness of the high value HGVs and freight which are stolen on UK roads is an important issue.

“But to make a real difference we need to make it easier to get intelligence about these types of crimes to police and other law enforcement agencies.

“TruckWatch members work countrywide and get to know information about vehicle crime, rogue drivers, smuggled goods or even suspected human trafficking.

“With Crimestoppers they just need to ring one number – 0800 555111 – which can be accessed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to report matters. Plus they can remain anonymous.”

Information can be given anonymously online at Crimestoppers’ Most Wanted website and there is a Languageline for callers who need the help of an interpreter.

South Yorkshire Police’s head of roads policing, Chief Inspector Ian Bint, said: “Vehicle-related crime does not respect county, regional or national boundaries.

“We are committed to working across the UK to combat these types of crimes and, in particular, thefts or transportation of stolen plant machinery.

“All Crimestoppers’ information is acted upon, so we urge anybody with information to please ring Crimestoppers and help us tackle this multi-million pound criminal activity.”