Night vision kit to target cargo thefts

Hauliers have given a cautious welcome to new night vision equipment Midland police are using to target criminals who steal cargos worth millions from truckers.

Motorway police are using the military-style equipment to scour truckstops and laybys to look for lurking thieves and to find lorries that have had their curtains slashed.

Police have already purchased one set of the kit and have been sponsored by a haulage contractor to buy another set.

Now officers, who showed off the technology to the media at the motorway police base on the M6 near Birmingham yesterday, are looking for sponsorship from other hauliers so that more can be purchased. Chris Kelly, chairman of West Bromwich-based Keltruck, the biggest Scania truck dealer in the UK, said: "It is a project that we support, if it is something that works. But it is a great pity in view of the enormity of commercial vehicle crime that the Government won't fund the implementation and that the police are having to go to the industry to pay for it."

Freight crime has been a huge problem in the region, with figures showing the average cost of loads stolen is around £35,000. That figure can exceed £1 million.

The cameras cost up to £5,000 and aim to catch thieves in the act or find loads that have already been targeted.

Police patrolling the M6 and surrounding routes in the region said many thefts went unnoticed by drivers until they checked their loads the next morning.

Last year the Express & Star revealed violent attacks on lorry drivers had increased as thugs use guns to steal millions of pounds worth of metal from roads around the West Midlands.

Sgt Rob Barker, from the Central Motorway Police Group, said the cameras had been used on a trial and had been a success. Anyone wanting to sponsor the equipment should contact CPMG on 0121 6261285.