The BBC has uncovered a scam in which criminal gangs are buying up haulage firms to pose as subcontractors, so they can drive off with thousands of pounds of cargo.
The fraud follows a pattern previously seen by Europol in mainland Europe, where legitimate companies on the brink of bankruptcy are bought by organised crime groups, who are then able to steal cargoes they have been contracted to pick up.
The BBC documentary Lorry Crime Exposed details one example, where a group of haulage companies was purchased using a dead man’s details.
One of the haulage firms was then hired as a subcontractor by an unwitting UK transport company. A manufacturer loaded one of the subcontractor’s lorries up with £75,000 of goods - which were then never seen again.
The documentary also looks at other ways criminals are targeting haulage firms, noting that freight theft in the UK rose to £111m last year, from £68m in 2023.
Footage obtained by the BBC shows criminals raiding lorries as they make deliveries, breaking into vehicles while they wait in traffic, cutting locks and breaking into depots, and stealing whole trailers packed with goods.
Drivers, who frequently have to stop and sleep overnight in their cabs, have told the BBC they often wake to find the curtained sides of their lorries slashed by criminals who tried to get at the cargo inside, with shipments of designer clothes, alcohol and electronics among the most common targets.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said freight crime is becoming “more sophisticated, more organised” and said police forces need to work with the industry to respond.
RHA managing director told the BBC that the haulage industry is “under attack”, with the RHA being notified everyday of members being targted.
Labour MP Rachel Taylor, who represents North Warwickshire and Bedworth, said the BBC investigation “lays bare what I hear constantly from hauliers: that increasingly sophisticated crime gangs are having a huge impact on their businesses”.
She said it had “gone unrecognised for too long”, and called for a “joined up national policing strategy and more resources to tackle this issue, so we can put these organised criminals behind bars where they belong”.
Deputy Chief Constable Jayne Meir, the NPCC’s first lead for freight crime, said a new team at Opal - a police intelligence unit tackling organised acquisitive crime - would start targeting the issue next year.
BBC’s Lorry Crime Exposed is being broadcast in the East and West Midlands tonight (17 November) at 20:30.
The programme can also be accessed on BBC IPlayer
