Number of lorry thefts is 'soaring'

Lorries carrying valuable loads are increasingly being stolen from the region's motorways by gangs who sometimes resort to violence, it was revealed today.

There has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of large goods vehicles being stolen, with rising scrap metal prices fuelling the multi-million pound criminal enterprise.

In the West Midlands, there were 141 large goods vehicles, which include trucks weighing more than 7.7 tons, stolen last year. That compared to 101 the previous year.

The Black Country has been badly hit, with the number of industiral units and closeness to the M6. Drivers are sometimes tricked into getting out of their vehicles by bogus policeman who then make off with loads, while curtains are slashed on some lorries while they are parked overnight.

A new report by Truckpol, a nationwide police and industry intelligence unit which tackles the problem of road freight crime, revealed the combined vale of vehicles and their loads stolen was at least £52 million nationally.

Electrical goods, clothes, cigarettes, alcohol and metal are among the merchandise most commonly stolen.

Nationally, the number of vehicles stolen rocketed by nearly 60 per cent from 1,604 in 2009 to 2,552 last year.

The report also highlighted the investigation into the death of Polish lorry driver Bogdan Bartczak.

The 57-year-old's body was found in Vale Road, Netherton, on November 1 and his lorry, containing TVs, had been taken.