EXECUTIVE REPORT continued
Dave Luscombe of Datatag ID Ltd provided an update on the CESAR scheme that has played such an important role in reducing plant and equipment theft. He reported that Bomag has recently joined the scheme and that new plant information sheets have been produced to aid Police officers in correctly identifying and cataloguing different types of machines.
Datatag (which will be exhibiting at the Executive Hire Show) has been training the Traffic Officers employed by Highways England to recognise CESAR plates when radioing details of suspicious plant movements to the Police. It has also been working with the HS2 high speed railway construction project in order to get tenders for equipment to stipulate a preference for CESAR registered machines. A similar exercise is likely for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games construction projects in Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Work is also progressing for more information to be recorded and displayed on the CESAR system in the future. Of particular relevance would be a visual indication of the emission compliance of particular machines to aid the checking of their suitability for use in Ultra Low Emission Zones.
GAP’s experiences
Iain Anderson, Joint MD of GAP Group, gave a typically entertaining and informative presentation on how tool and plant hire companies have been targeted by thieves and fraudsters. He shared details of how GAP had been duped in the past by clever criminals who have cloned genuine companies in order to give the impression of being an established business with a good trading history.
He revealed that the cost of fraudulent hires to GAP was £60,000 in 2016, rising to £160,000 last year and, by the beginning of November 2018, it was £120,000. To counter such criminality, GAP now conducts very stringent checks on new accounts to weed out bogus companies and suspect individuals, and around 20% of new credit applications are currently being declined
GAP’s Iain Anderson revealed details of audacious thefts from its depots.
Iain Anderson used the Conference to advise all hire companies to avoid fraudulent hires by carrying out very thorough credit and Companies House checks, taking trade references and making a physical
52
These concrete blocks are amongst measures taken by GAP to enhance perimeter security at its depots.
visit to the potential customer’s premises (or insisting that the person wishing to open an account visits your hire depot to present identification and to be recorded on CCTV). He also called for more intelligence sharing between hire companies.
Like other hire companies, GAP has suffered thefts from its depots after some audacious break-ins. He showed CCTV footage of thieves ramming a van through the roller shutter doors of a depot to gain entry and steal equipment. Other thieves climbed through an energised electric fence by separating conductors with wooden poles before smashing a hole through the wall of a building to gain access to the valuables locked inside.
GAP has now retaliated by better fortifying the perimeters of its more vulnerable depots with the addition of enhanced protection (using anti- ram concrete blocks, Armco barriers, razor wire and superior electric fences). Gates have gained additional security barriers and padlock protection boxes, while roller shutter doors have been better shielded with bollards. Other hirers now need to be similarly protected.
Another speaker was Peter Thompson, MD of CanTrack Global, who revealed details of devices that can be readily obtained by criminals to help them steal plant and vehicles. Having checked out these tools, his company has been busy developing counter measures. For obvious reasons, he does not discuss details of these latest technical solutions but he contends it is now almost impossible for thieves to scan a CanTrack Asset system.
As well as selling battery powered asset tracking devices, CanTrack Global (another company that is will be exhibiting at the Executive Hire Show) provides a national in-house team of former Police officers as investigators to physically go and find stolen plant. According to Peter Thompson, this combined approach results in a 92% recovery rate.
The latest news from CanTrack Global is that it has been awarded Category S7 status for its CanTrack Asset product by the Thatcham research centre. This accreditation recognises the capability of the company’s non hard-wired system.
• 01332 856999
www.theftsolutions.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114
