Milk tanker thefts prompt firms to offer cash reward
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A SPATE OF MILK tanker thefts in Cumbria has led operators to come together to offer a reward of £1,000 for any information that results in their return.
Wm Armstrong and Bibby Distribution say they have had to resort to the offer of a financial incentive in order to help catch the thieves after the two firms had four tankers stolen in Penrith within just days of each other last month.
However, Alan Paterson, Bibby milk contracts operations manager fears the semi-trailers could already have been broken down for their spare parts.
Bibby'ssemi-trailertanks,worth £19,000 each and containing 10,000 litres of milk, were stolen in the early hours of 26 March.
Paterson says a tractor unit was used to remove the trailers from a shared yard in Old Tebay.
Five days later Wm Armstrong also had two milk tankers — worth a combined £68,000— stolen from Farmers and Kidds auction yard at Penrith in the early hours.
One of the stolen tankers was an empty hired trailer, while the other was liveried up in Armstrong's colours and was full of milk.
Jennifer Whyberd, managing director of Wm Armstrong, says the £1,000 reward is "to ensure that the criminals are caught': She adds: We are all tightening up on security, but I don't know if milk tankers have been targeted before. I received a call from Suffolk that someone had seen our tanker. I keep feeding these leads to the police."