Earlier this month, the UK’s House of Commons held a debate that underscored the significant impact of freight crime on public safety and the UK economy, particularly its future growth, a priority for the current Government.
The discussion also highlighted the insufficient resources allocated to combatting freight crime effectively concluding that England’s National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) is critically under-resourced and underfunded. Its dedicated freight crime investigation team consists of one full-time police officer on secondment, alongside a part-time analyst and a part-time data entry clerk.
The road haulage industry, which is responsible for transporting 89% of all goods and 98% of agricultural and food products across the UK, contributes around US$17 billion annually to the economy, equivalent to 5.6% of the nation’s GDP.
UK-based transport and logistics insurance company TT Club has long supported NaVCIS financially and practically. TT Club’s Managing Director for Loss Prevention Mike Yarwood mentioned, “We very much welcomed the airing of this issue at a legislative level. The detailed aspects of both opportunistic and well-planned theft; the lack of secure overnight parking facilities; the identification of crime hotspots as well and concerns over driver safety, which is discouraging female recruits, were all discussed and their significance put into perspective as priorities to be addressed.”
Yarwood, who also serves as vice-chair of the industry-led HGV Parking Capacity and Standards Task and Finish group established with support from the UK’s Department for Transport, is leading efforts to improve lorry parking standards.
Collaborating with NaVCIS Freight and other industry stakeholders, Yarwood is spearheading an industry-driven report to provide the government with recommendations aimed at reducing freight crime.
Yarwood said, “Our report is aimed at providing a detailed analysis of the current state of freight crime and offering practical solutions to enhance security and reduce incidents. In underscoring the importance of industry and government working together to safeguard the logistics sector, we hope our collaboration will encourage others to add their weight to the efforts to fight crime.”
