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Yorkshire hit by tanker thefts
Page 12
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Tanker operators are warned to be on their guard as the price of steel is making the tankers attractive to thieves. David Harris reports.
A WEST YORKSHIRE tanker operator warns that there is currently an epidemic of tanker thefts because the price of steel has made them valuable as scrap.
Elland-based Alexander Peel, whose firm AW Peel was founded in 1912, has lost two tankers in the last 12 months. He says other operators in Yorkshire have also had tankers stolen and alleges that the police can do little to help.
-The problem is there is no [police] co-ordination." adds Peel. "You ring the station in Huddersfield and they have no idea about thefts that have taken place just up the road.
-The last time I spoke to a sergeant be was trying to be very helpful, but he gave me no hope."
Peel believes the tankers go straight to scrap merchants which can break them up in a few hours: "We think they are going into Lancashire and being chopped up. They get a high price for stainless steel these days."
DC.I Andy Round of Truckpol, the national road freight crime unit, says he is not surprised if more tankers are being stolen, although he adds that no firm figures are available. "Given the price of steel,itseems very likely they are being taken for scrap." he says. -Metal thefts are a national issue and tanker thefts may well be something we have to look into.
But for Peel any action will come too late — the tanker thefts have made him resolve to get out of the business: "I'm fairly near retirement age anyway, but I don't see how I can go on.
"This business has been handed down from father to son. I have three daughters, but there really isn't much left to hand on."