When considered against the current risk landscape, the provision of secure parking facilities for lorries in England is grossly inadequate. That’s according to a report released in August came from an industry led Department for Transport (DfT) Task and Finish Group to examine how standards of lorry parking facilities can be raised nationwide.
This Task and Finish Group included the membership group which offers mutual insurance and other services, TT Club. It saw two primary themes, security and welfare facilities; in some ways intrinsically linked. Inadequacy of security at most lorry parking facilities in England contributes to stress and anxiety among drivers; and haulage has a national shortage of HGV drivers, who are almost all men.
A rig could be worth over £100,000, weighing up to 44 tonnes and capable of carrying cargo valued into the millions of pounds, the role of the HGV driver comes with great responsibility and should not be under-estimated, the authors stated. “The myriad responsibilities arguably should not include having to make difficult decisions as to where they should take their statutory daily and weekly rest periods. The HGV driver should be provided with adequate facilities, not least related to security, providing them certainty and affording the opportunity to get sufficient rest between typically long shifts,” the report said.
A ‘mapping exercise’ identified the locations where criminals have been most active in England over the last four years. The underlying freight crime data has been sourced from the UK police’s National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS Freight) freight crime database. Having identified the top ten ‘criminally active lorry parking locations’, police Design out Crime Officers (DOCOs) attended each and reported their findings and security recommendations.
For criminals, freight crime is considered a low-risk and highly profitable endeavour, according to the report. It is categorised as organised crime because a distribution network is required to sell the goods on. The criminals are typically highly organised, the authors said: “Considering the operational complexities that legitimate supply chain stakeholders face, the fact that the criminals are able to steal large quantities of cargo at the road side, transport it, segregate it, store it and re-distribute it across the country and beyond, without attracting any unwanted attention, illustrates their logistical capabilities.” During 2023, NaVCIS Freight recorded 5,373 offences of road freight crime in England, with a combined estimated value of £68m in stolen cargo, vehicles and carrying equipment. The true economic value of loss is estimated to be much higher when you add ‘hidden harm’ and less quantifiable costs; such as a haulier or supplier unable to meet a contract.
Gangs travel
These highly organised criminal gangs will travel long distances across England’s strategic road network to target cargo. Operating across police force borders affords the criminals further smoke screens to hide behind, making investigations more complex. The ten locations identified in the report – Trowell, Stafford, Hilton Park, Corley, Warwick, Peterborough, Toddington and Birchanger, and around the M25 Thurrock and Clacket Lane – are high-traffic lorry parking locations across the strategic road network. Many of the locations operate at or near capacity every night of the week.
The report pointed to a difference between “safe” and “secure” facilities in the context of freight crime and this is illustrated in statistics over the last four years data provided by NaVCIS Freight. When considering a parking facility or rest area there are various terms used, in particular “safe” and “secure”. For many facilities these terms are considering the safety and security of the driver rather than the cargo and vehicle. Unsafe parking locations are categorised as industrial estates or roadside lay-bys that have no safety or security provisions for the driver, cargo or vehicle. Safe parking locations are typically categorised as facilities that have driver welfare provisions and are therefore considered to provide security to the driver, but no security provisions for cargo or the vehicle.
When theft happens
Theft of freight typically takes place at night when the lorry parks are full and the criminals can operate discreetly in the hours of darkness. Less natural traffic and fewer people movements means fewer potential interruptions. The data identifies that typically large volumes of cargo are targeted, meaning that the criminals are using vehicles to aid theft. The facilities identified through the study are all motorway service areas (MSAs). The role of an MSA is to serve all travellers on the strategic road network, including haulage firms. This includes providing adequate provisions for all travellers’ needs, recognising that needs differ from a private driver in their car, to a lorry driver carrying a £1m cargo. It is recognised that the MSAs provide a parking location with facilities for lorry drivers, including access to food and conveniences.
MSA facilities to be designed for accessibility and the lorry parking areas are not segregated in any way, making the areas difficult to manage in the context of security, the report went on. Many of the facilities nationally have little or no proportionate recognised security provisions commensurate to the risks of having lorries and cargo parked there. While many operators recognise the importance of security, funding to retrospectively develop the facilities, install and maintain security provisions remains a significant barrier. When potential security provisions do exist, such as ANPR (automatic number plate recognition), it may be inaccessible to a victim of crime. At the facilities visited a perimeter fence was not present ‘in any meaningful form’, the report stated. CCTV was often in place ‘but inadequate at the facilities visited to create a meaningful deterrent or be of any assistance post incident to provide evidence of the identity and movements of the criminals’. In several cases, large multi-acre, multi-user facilities had only a few CCTV cameras.
The three lorry parking standards for the sector in England are the PSR Standard, developed by the global trade body the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA); the SSTPA Standard developed and adopted by the European Union (EU); and the Police Crime Prevention Initiative’s (CPI) Park Mark Freight standard, managed by the British Parking Association (BPA). According to the 2022 AECOM National survey of lorry parking, which considered parking facilities within five kilometres of the strategic road network in England, some 328 on-site parking facilities provide a capacity of about 16,750 parking spots. In total, therefore, the number of on-site parking facilities that have achieved recognised security accreditation in England is 3.4 per cent. Hence the report’s finding that ‘when considered against the current risk landscape, the provision of secure parking facilities for lorries in England is grossly inadequate’.
The report acknowledges that ‘market forces’ do not incentivise operators of lorry parking to invest in necessary security measures. Some do spend on welfare and security, including use of Government grants.
Case study
The Hollies stands off junction 12 of the M6 and on the busy A5 near Cannock, Staffordshire; and was acquired by Certas Energy in November 2021. Besides fire and general safety investment, the site has upgraded CCTV and LED floodlights. In 2023 it applied for the new Park Mark Freight Award assessment, which it gained on the first round of assessments; The Hollies was already a TAPA Partner. It has zero crime.
