Policy campaign highlights – August 2022

Following an in-depth discussion with members about van crime at the Van Policy Working Group in February 2020, Logistics UK embarked on a research project to build a picture of the impact on the industry. We gathered evidence through a qualitative survey of members and a freedom of information (FOI) request for police data and published the Van Security Report in October 2020.

The report identified a gap in the available data and through government engagement, we found the barrier to police responding to van crime was that they had an incomplete understanding of the scale of the problem, compounded by inconsistent data collection across police forces and an element of unreported crimes. This meant that limited police resources were not prioritising van crime.

Van crime is a significant issue and needs to be taken seriously. In a time of supply chain issues for parts, a vandalised or damaged van means a vehicle could be out of action and impact operations. Plus, with members reporting more than 90% of crime happening at drivers’ homes, the impact on employee retention and well-being is significant.

TVL, a vehicle security products company and Logistics UK member, is keen to support crime prevention and has launched ‘Tell TVL’, a platform to collate commercial vehicle crime data and demonstrate the scale of the issue, as well as identify details of crime activities to improve police response and vehicle security development.

The campaign is supported by the National Business Crime Centre and the Home Office. It also has big name corporate support, which shows the trust the industry is putting in the platform, its data collection methods, and the value it can provide.

Laura Moran, Managing Director, TVL Group, said: “Our aim is to reduce van crime and provide drivers with insight to stay safe and secure. We’re still in the early days and we encourage fleet operators to share new and historic data to help us build up a nationwide industry picture.”

The Tell TVL initiative has been promoted to Freight Councils, Working Groups and through Logistics Magazine. We’re really pleased TVL picked up the gauntlet on behalf of the industry and give it our backing. The additional data collated should support our wider campaign for van crime to be recognised separately from other vehicle crimes using a standardised nationwide reporting mechanism, as well as supporting manufacturers and equipment providers to make commercial vehicles more secure.

*www.logistics.org.uk/campaigns

Published On: 11/08/2022 16:00:14

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