Thieves who steal from lorries ‘organised crime’, says MP in crackdown call

Lorry drivers face losing their cargo to criminal gangs in lay-bys and on-the-move heists, an MP has said, in her call for a freight crime crackdown.

Rachel Taylor said thieves who steal from the back of lorries, leaving with high-value hauls, often belong to organised crime groups.

The Labour MP, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Freight and Logistics, called for a new crime code so that police can better track freight crime.

“An organised gang stealing thousands of pounds worth of goods from a lorry and someone stealing a mobile phone from the passenger seat of a car are coded in the same way by the police,” Ms Taylor told the Commons.

Her Freight Crime Bill, which she introduced on Tuesday using a ten-minute rule motion, would mean these larger thefts are not “lumped together with domestic car break-ins and other car crime”.

She had earlier said: “Too many people think theft from a van or lorry is low-level, opportunistic crime. This is not true.

“Freight crime is committed by organised criminal gangs. It’s dangerous and it’s cost the UK economy £1 billion since 2020. More action is urgently needed.”

Ms Taylor, whose North Warwickshire and Bedworth constituency is crossed by the M6, M6 Toll and M42 motorways, added that criminals “seize opportunities of goods shortages to target cargo that’s increasing in value, such as baby formula and PPE (personal protective equipment) during the pandemic”.

She told MPs that a gang had stolen Government-funded laptops from a lorry in one case, and in another last year, “an HGV was driving to Hinckley when the driver realised the lock had been cut while he’d been driving, and over £3 million worth of smartphones, watches and laptops were stolen”.

Ms Taylor said: “This type of operation, where criminal gangs drive erratically to target a moving vehicle and tailgate it, is dangerous for everyone on the road.”

A new crime code could enable police officers to identify freight crime hotspots, the MP said, and allow for the creation of a national strategy to tackle offenders.

According to an APPG report last year titled Securing our Supply Chains, 5,370 reports of HGV and cargo crime were recorded in the UK in 2023, and goods worth an estimated £68.3 million stolen.

Essex was identified as the worst-hit area, with 374 offences identified.

West Yorkshire (345 offences), South Yorkshire (328), Warwickshire (314) and Staffordshire (302) also had some of the highest levels of freight crime.

The Freight Crime Bill will next be listed for debate on June 20.