RHA tells The Sun that freight crime needs to be tackled by Ministers

Freight crime is on the rise and it's destroying businesses, impacting the health, safety and wellbeing of our drivers and it's making it harder for firms to recruit and retain staff. We continue to highlight the urgent need for Government to tackle freight crime. We need tougher sentencing, more secure truck stops and better crime recording.

Despite being very organised, freight crime often goes unseen and under the radar. We told The Sun that we need eleven thousand more safe and secure lorry and coach parking spaces across the country to deter organised crime gangs and give drivers and businesses more piece of mind when they're parking.

Freight crime is a growing problem nationally but it's often difficult to understand its true scale because of the way it's currently recorded. For that reason, we're also calling for the introduction of a specific freight crime offence with tougher sentencing options being put in place to reflect the seriousness of the crime. Presently freight crime is categorised as theft from a motor vehicle - the same as having a pair of sunglasses stolen from the car glove box - with a maximum sentence of seven years.

Freight crime is low risk, high reward for highly organised criminals and it's happening every night on our roads and in truck stops across the UK.

The Sun reported that there has been £500million of goods including mobile phones, tablets and laptops being stolen from HGVs in recent times "and sold online within hours." These goods are being snatched, often in "daredevil missions from the back of lorries" as sophisticated criminal networks target certain trucks by researching the routes they take and the spots where they are likely to park.

RHA member, Rhys Hackling from Direct Connect Logistics told the Sun that his drivers "are being targeted two or three times a month." Gangs patrol truck stops and cut into up to a dozen vehicles to find items they can shift easily.

He said: "These criminals are now much more sophisticated, with huge amounts of goods being stolen and sold. The Government needs to make the punishment fit the crime and ensure culprits are jailed. Sometimes you will see stolen products sold online within 24 hours of being taken. The ­chances of being caught are quite low." Rhys (who has eighteen trucks on the road) has installed metal-plated truck security curtains to stop the thieves, costing £950 per vehicle."

Last year there was over 5,300 incidents of freight crime and £68 million worth of goods stolen - with the retail value being much higher. The average loss per reported incident was £13,252.

Freight crime is not a victimless crime and we want the Government to take urgent actions to address this issue. We stand ready to work with them to tackle this growing problem.

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In our recently released Blueprint document, we recommended actions to combat this issue to policy makers. In addition to tougher sentencing and a specific freight crime offence, we continue to call for planning rules to be reformed to accommodate more safe and secure parking and facilities.

Mission Driven: A Blueprint for Delivery

The Sun article on Freight crime