Long-distance dangers

Most people have joked about goods that have ‘fallen off the back of a lorry', but many may not realise the financial consequences and danger to drivers that are associated with lorry crime.

Figures released last December by the freight intelligence unit Truckpol, reveal that lorry crime almost doubled from 2007 to 2008. Both organised criminals and opportunists alike have used the high-value loads of lorries as targets, with areas where there are a high concentration of heavy goods vehicles and good motorway links as apparent hotspots.

This increase in truck-related crime carries with it potentially higher insurance premiums, refused payment from customers where goods have been stolen and perhaps more worryingly, a threat to the safety of the driver.
The Truckpol quarterly report for the period between April and June 2009 shows that thefts are down on the figures from last year. However, Roger Ball, head of commercial motor and motor trade for Allianz commercial, says the figures do not reflect what he has seen.
"I certainly don't see any reduction in vehicle theft despite the better security that is generally available, I do think, however, that the economic downturn has had an effect," he explains.

While Rob Cook, manager of regional marine at RSA, explains the Truckpol figures regarding lorry crime could be significantly understated: "There are two reasons for this. First, not all police forces report data to them, and second, there is a significant problem in determining the actual value of goods that are stolen from vehicles.
"There are significant volumes of low-level crime that are not reported, there is also a significant amount of miscoding within the police. There are examples where a trailer is slashed to allow theft and that is reported or recorded as malicious damage. So, the problem is far worse than the Truckpol figures show."

Unreported thefts
Jon Cross, risk control manager at Northern Marine Underwriters, agrees adding "the data is only as good as the data that is put in". He says: "The cost of road freight crime in 2008 is guidance only really, as not everything gets captured in the data. The data that is collected by Truckpol and the figures that it has released are probably lower than they ought to be."
Chrys Rampley, manager of security at the Road Haulage Association, says the problem with the figures this year is that they look healthy because the police have not been reporting all the thefts that are actually taking place, which would then drive up the figure.

"A lot of the time forces don't bother to record it, because it may only be a small amount," she explains.
However, Alan Soames, Truckpol intelligence officer within the Association of Chief Police Officers, disagrees: "The figures seem to be fairly steady, if not maybe we are even looking at a decrease.

"We are putting that down possibly to the fact that there are less vehicles on the road at the moment. Also we are still working hard to get Truckpol out and about within police forces so that they are aware and they send us the information."

Mr Soames believes the police could do more to make sure that the figures are more accurate: "The ideal would be that we would get information from police forces more automatically, but we rely on my contact within each force to integrate their crime recording system and dig out the freight crime."

Taking responsibility
And the problem is exacerbated by the fact that lorry crime often falls across different police force borders that have different crimes as their priority, resulting in neither force wanting to take responsibility of the incident.

Mr Cook explains: "All the police forces have their own key performance indicators given by central government and, unfortunately, vehicle crime frequently doesn't feature on those. The attitude to vehicle crime varies by different police forces, some are very aware and put a lot of effort into it and others tend not to."

Ms Rampley agrees: "Something that we have been campaigning for is the better recording of these crimes. I believe that it is only something like 30% to 40% of forces are currently giving information to Truckpol, so we are trying to improve on that. I know when I did a study with the East Midlands, it showed that of those offences that they had reported, they then only sent 66% of those to Truckpol, so to get a true picture is actually very difficult."

In addition, Mr Soames believes road freight crime needs to be higher up the government's list of priorities: "Freight crime is not seen as a high priority from the government level down. When the reports come in and they see a trend within a local force then they will do something about it, for example, at the moment in the Midlands where cigarette lorries have been targeted."
However, Ms Rampley says the RHA is actively engaged in continuing talks over the problems of truck parking with the department for transport, both with officials and with the logistics minister, Paul Clark and that an action plan is going to be released in the next couple of weeks.

But lorry crime may be making more of an impact for police forces now, following incidents involving deaths - earlier this year at Station Road Industrial Estate in Coleshil, Warwickshire, three men were stabbed by a lorry driver after an attempted lorry robbery, which resulted in the death of one man. This incident not only highlights the danger to the drivers, but also the danger to the people committing these crimes, which could possibly be a contributing factor in the downturn of the figures. But violence seems to be on the increase
"If you look at hijacking over the past five or six years, this and the use of weapons is on the increase - and thieves will go to great lengths to achieve their objectives, more so than they previously would have. This also has a lot to do with the fact that there are more weapons now easily available," explains Mr Cross.
It is clear that overnight parking for lorry drivers, not only for the safety of the van but for the safety of the driver, is a major issue.

Mr Soames says: "In the UK and Europe there are no really good quality secure facilities for drivers to park. Dispatch will set up a route and drivers will not want to go miles out of the way to park securely because it costs money.

"The RHA is looking to raise the issue of secure lorry parking in the UK and there are also groups within Europe doing the same thing. Whether we will get any luck is all a big long drawn out process."

Mr Cook highlights another problem as early arrivals at distribution centres, particularly by foreign drivers. "They park up outside depots and the local criminal community appreciate that if a vehicle is parked outside waiting for delivery the next day, there is a fair chance that it has got some product that would be worth stealing in there."

Lacking education
Mr Ball believes education is lacking: "There is a corporate responsibility that exists for entities to make sure drivers are trained to use the appropriate security that is available, but also that they have been given appropriate advice on security."

And Mr Cross explains that insurers can help here: "We meet with our clients to talk about security arrangements and to be able to identify any weaknesses in the logistics chain."

"From our perspective there is a lot that we can add in terms of helping clients to manage risk more effectively," adds Mr Ball. "It is about the security of the vehicles themselves, checking what the locking system on the vehicle is, whether it has a tracking system on it, if the client is carrying a high value load, then it is going to be quite attractive to thieves."

He adds: "If we are going to give extended cover a stipulation is that when the vehicle is left over night it has to be left in a secure area with 24 hour security. But that will be very selective according to the vehicles themselves, the goods that are carried and the country that is being visited."

Mr Cross adds: "The drivers have an influence and one of the things that we try to provide is education to drivers to raise their awareness to help them to avoid being put into a situation where they may be threatened themselves, or their load may be stolen."

While Mr Crook says education for the public is needed too: "There is the public perception that it tends to be regarded as a victimless crime, or invisible. Everyone knows the expression ‘fell off the back of a lorry' and people don't question where it has come from or the pain that it has caused up the chain."

Effective education for clients and risk management also brings benefits in lowering insurance premiums as if a client is able to manage its risk effectively and reduce vehicle theft incidents, that will show through in lower claims cost and premiums.

Mr Ball explains: "A client that has frequent vehicle theft is obviously going to have to pay premium for it and that needs to get across as education. For most people, risk management means aggravation and means spending money, but the up side is that if you do have a well run operation and the vehicles are secure and if you manage to avoid vehicle thefts, then there are financial benefits in terms of less disruption to your business, but also potential controlling your insurance premium as well."

Neil Smith, head of underwriting at the Lloyd's Market Association, and secretary to the joint cargo committee, says: "Insurers are working with their clients to ensure that they take necessary precautions to minimise the risk of loss, and to maximise the chances of subsequent recovery. These measures will include proper training of drivers in loss prevention methods to reduce the opportunity for theft, and the use of technologies to track vehicles."

But Mr Cross believes insurers could go further: "One of the things that we can do as an industry to help is with the need of some kind of consistency in terms of policy conditions and warranties."

He explains that currently what may be acceptable to one insurance company may not be acceptable to another, for example, stipulating whether or not the lorry is allowed to use a curtain sided vehicle. "Until there is some sort of consistency within the marine insurance market, there will never be that consistent approach to how we try and influence the security of goods in transit or goods in warehousing," he says.

In conclusion, he adds that if the insurance industry does not start to make some changes then the figures for lorry crime will only get worse as companies are more open to crimes: "That is something that the industry as a whole has got to tackle. We are operating in a soft market and, if there are no restrictions put on a particular haulage company, they will go for the path of least resistance."