Plant theft is down for the first time in 12 years, according to a new report by The National Plant and Equipment Register (TER).
In its 2007 Equipment Theft Report, TER reveals that plant theft has fallen by 18 per cent over the last year. But it urges equipment owning companies not to be complacent. “Although this is a significant drop, plant theft is still a widespread serious organised criminal activity, often directly linked to the funding of terrorist groups,” warns TER’s Tim Purbrick. “There is still a long way to go and many serious issues still need to be addressed.” TER, based in Bath, records thefts usually worth more than £1500 via police and insuers, manufacturers and others. The 2007 report suggests that:
More than 3,500 higher value equipment items were stolen in 2006 with a total value in excess of £31m; this compares with 4,324 items worth £43m reported as stolen to TER in 2005 when plant theft was at a record high
Excavators remain the highest value category of stolen equipment: in 2006, 793 were reported as stolen to TER, representing 22.3pc of total reported thefts and valued at £11.8m or 37.5pc of the total value of stolen plant. Reported excavator theft dropped by 32pc between 2005 and 2006
The south-east of England, led by Surrey, then London and Kent, continues to top the league for the most targeted area for excavator theft
Trailers are the most commonly stolen item of equipment, representing 25.5pc of UK theft; however trailer theft is down 17pc on 2005 to 903 trailers and now accounts for 6.1pc (£1.9m) of the total value of plant and equipment theft in 2006
After trailers, the most commonly stolen items of equipment are excavators (22.3%), quad bikes (7.4pc), dumpers( 6.6pc), rollers (5.6pc) and breakers (4.4pc); the top six types of stolen equipment account for 72pc of thefts
Telescopic handlers remain a high value target for thieves, despite the number of thefts dropping 32pc to 105. Theft of telehandlers represents 3% of total theft and 8% of total value (£2.5M)
There have been significant drops in the number of reported thefts from 2005-2006; compressors down 48pc, generators down 44pc and excavators, telescopic handlers, dumpers and fork lift trucks all down 32pc.
Tractor theft, having risen 70pc in the last report, has remained static as has roller theft, while the theft of quad bikes has risen 5pc to 261, representing 7.4pc of total reported thefts; one in five of these quad bike thefts were from North Yorkshire alone
Equipment theft is most dense in the south of England – Surrey, London, Thames Valley, Kent and Essex – and least dense in Scotland
There are also equipment theft hotspots in northern England, in West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North and South Yorkshire
The most valuable item stolen in 2006 was a £300,000 Volvo 25 tonne road rail lorry.
The most stolen equipment by manufacturer was Ifor Williams (733 thefts), followed by JCB (317 thefts) then Benford (192 thefts)
The top five police forces experiencing equipment theft are: Metropolitan (175 thefts), Surrey (173 thefts), Thames Valley (161 thefts), Kent (133 thefts) and Lancashire (120 thefts)
The police forces with the lowest level of recorded equipment theft were Cleveland, City of London, Northern, Fife and Dumfries & Galloway
The recovery rate for stolen plant and equipment is less than 5pc. Some 95pc of equipment stolen every year is not recovered
TER adds that it has 550,000 items valued at £2.6 billion on its database: since 2000 more than £216m of stolen equipment has been reported to TER.
What they say
According to Tim Purbrick, the 18pc drop in plant theft witnessed in 2006 can be attributed to a number of factors. “We’d like to think that TER has played a part with its strategic campaign against equipment theft,” he says. “Undoubtedly, the great weight of media coverage of equipment theft has created an awareness that has been acted upon. A number of manufacturers are fitting security devices in their factories, plant hire companies could be seeking after-market security devices and maybe equipment users are taking more care with site security. While the downward direction of our report’s statistics is clearly to be welcomed, however, it is clear there is still a long way to go. Evidence directly links equipment theft to the funding of terrorist groups. Experts fear stolen equipment could be used as a Trojan horse either to smuggle illicit property, such as weapons or drugs into the UK, or to hide an explosive device. With the 2012 Olympics construction phase now underway, equipment owning companies need to continue their fight against plant theft and deny, deter and detect equipment thieves. In short, they need to persevere – they can be sure that we will." To download a copy of TER’s 2007 Equipment Theft Report, which contains a list of recommended action points.
