More than a third of businesses have had a van stolen within the last 12 months, a study by Logistics UK has revealed.
The company’s Van Security Report, collated data from police forces across the UK and sought real-life examples and insights from van users through a Van Security survey.
The report has been launched to understand the nature and scale of van crime.
Denise Beedell, policy manager for vans and urban at Logistics UK, said: “Van content theft has, on average, cost businesses £4,250 in the last 12 months. In addition to initial cost implications, logistics businesses also face increased operational costs and potential staff and customer retention difficulties as a result of these thefts.
“Currently, it is up to individual police forces to decide how to record commercial van crime, resulting in an incomplete picture of the extent of this type of crime. To better highlight the impact of these crimes on van operating businesses, to policy makers at all level of Government, Logistics UK is calling for a UK-wide standard reporting mechanism among all police force areas.”
A recent survey of 1,037 tradespeople, commission by Honcho, revealed that van theft cost tradespeople £264 million per year and tool theft cost them £5,584 on average, each time their van gets broke into.
A van break-in also puts the average tradesperson out of work for 30 days and costs them £5,982 in missed jobs, on top of the cost of replacing tools and materials, the survey found.
Beedell said: “Logistics UK is also calling for the Home Office to allocate a national crime reporting code to allow better understanding of the scale and reach of this crime and to support better allocation of police resources.
“It must be recognised that this type of crime is not victimless, and its impacts are felt keenly by operators and their employees.
“We will also be looking to work with manufacturers of vehicle and security equipment to explore what features can be developed for commercial vans to minimise van related crimes.”
You can view the full report here.
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Jessica is event and digital content co-ordinator for all our events.
She was the web producer at Fleet News, Commercial Fleet and Smart Transport until April 2023.
She started her career as a content writer for a digital marketing agency that specialised in financial services, where she worked for more than two years.
Jessica was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Multimedia Journalism in 2017.
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