£70m worth of stolen construction plant machinery

It’s thought that over £70 million of construction plant machinery, including mini diggers excavators, telehandlers and backhoe loaders, has been stolen from UK construction sites in the last year, despite initiatives by the Government to encourage plant manufacturers to improve in-built security features.

It estimates that the UK construction industry is now losing  as much as £800 million per year when other costs associated with plant theft are taken into account. including replacement costs of hire equipment, loss of business and increased insurance premiums. The insurance companies have also discovered that thieves have become more sophisticated and sometimes even posing as a plant hire company, on site plant engineer in order to remove vehicles from a construction site.

Thieves are attracted to plant because of its very low recovery rates – less than 10 per cent compared with motor vehicles, which enjoy a recovery rate of around 55-60 per cent. This is because items of plant have few identifying marks that can be readily and easily seen and lack of registration documents mean it is difficult for the police to identify stolen plant and return it to the owner.

To help shed a little bit more light onto the subject, the UK Plant Traders news blog recently caught up with Michael Gregory.

Director & General Manager at JCB Insurance – The Specialist Construction Insurance Brokers

• Have you seen an increase in plant theft and insurance claims over the last 2 years?

JCB Insurance has witnessed a reduction in Plant theft claims over the past few years. The reduction however has been seen in respect of larger items of Plant. The theft of smaller plant and tools remains a huge problem in the industry and we still need to be united in the fight to reduce and eradicate this problem that costs millions of pounds every year.

• What has been the biggest change? e.g Trackers, Police, CESAR

There have been 2 significant changes in recent years that have helped improve the Plant theft situation. Firstly, in 2008 JCB Excavators took the decision to install genuinely effective security features on most machines as standard. After this, many manufacturers followed suit. Now, most modern machines are fitted with high quality immobilisers operated either by an electronic keypad or by a transponder key similar to a modern car. Gone are the days (thankfully) of the ‘one key fits all’. In addition to this some manufacturers fit tracking systems to their machines as standard too. Line fitted systems are, in our opinion, preferable to retro fitted systems simply because they are buried far deeper in the machine and are harder for criminals to deactivate.

The second significant change we believe is the introduction of the CESAR (Construction Equipment Security and Registration) Scheme. You will have seen the triangular registration plate stickers on the side of many machines and this has been a big step forward in helping the Police easily and quickly identify stolen equipment, even if it has been broken down for parts. In the past if it was ‘big and yellow then is was a JCB‘ but now the Police can not only tell exactly what make and model it is, they can also now tell immediately who the owner is – just like a car.

These innovations, led by the industry, have served as a strong and effective deterrent and have helped reduce Plant theft significantly.

We need to continue to focus on site security in order to ensure small plant and tools are kept safe from thieves.

• What can we do to improve things?

As machines become harder to physically steal, thieves are trying new and different tactics – Theft by deception. What better way to steal a well protected machine than have the owner hand over the keys and even help you load it onto your lorry. Or better still deliver it to you.. JCB Insurance has observed two key areas where this is increasingly prevalent. Firstly, Plant Hire. A ‘customer’ tries to hire a machine but he has fake ID and other documentation. Secondly, fraudulent Plant Sales. This can range from someone trying to sell a machine that is stolen or still on finance through to very sophisticated operations with websites that are set up to look like bona fide dealers but are in fact fake. The transaction to buy a machine takes place on line but when the customer arrives to collect the machine he has just ‘bought’ it’s either not there or the people he thinks he’s bought it from know nothing about it.

To help improve this situation, we need to be very diligent about identifying the person we are dealing with whether they are a buyer, seller or hirer. Always ask for photos ID and do some background checks – the internet has so much information available, this is not a difficult task. If something doesn’t feel right then check it out further, make some phone calls but always be wary of someone who doesn’t have a land line and will only deal with you by mobile.

There is a specialist division of the Metropolitan Police – PANIU (Plant and Agricultural National Intelligence Unit) that is funded by the Insurance Industry dedicated to tackling Plant Theft. If you encounter anything that you think is fraudulent, whether you get caught out by it or not, let them know, or better still, let your Insurance Broker know – if they are truly a Construction and Plant Specialist Insurance Broker, they will have contacts with PANIU.  By doing this we can all be do our bit to make sure that Plant thieves are shut down and brought to justice.

• What effect dose plant theft this have on new equipment sales?

Plant Theft obviously has an effect on new equipment sales because if you have a piece of kit stolen then you will most likely need to replace it however, as mentioned earlier, newer machine are much harder to steal than many older ones. This being the case, it is more likely that theft has a greater impact on the sale of used equipment by increasing demand.

• Why genuine UK dealers shouldn’t have their reputation or brand associated cowboy dealers and advertising websites.

As stories of fraudulent sales of machines circulate the industry it is increasingly important for dealers or those selling their machines to use bona fide, quality, trusted websites and publications to advertise through. This gives confidence to the buyer that he is not going to get caught out by one of the scams that are out there and it also gives him confidence in the product before he buys it.  

• What makes JCB Insurance one of the UK’s leading construction insurance provider.

JCB Insurance Services are a Construction and Plant Specialist Insurance Broker. With over 30 years experience is arranging Insurance, including Plant Insurance for our customers we have genuine knowledge about Construction Equipment, what it’s used for and the risks associated with it. We regularly weed out criminals who try to buy hired in plant insurance in a false name and we have helped secure a number of plant theft convictions. We are always proactive and work hard to understand the risk to ensure the best possible insurance deal for our customers whilst also offering practical support and advice. We know all about the OEM security features of most machines (not just JCB’s) and ensure that these reflect a premium discount wherever possible.

Lots of Insurance Brokers claim to be ‘specialists’ in Plant and Construction but we are exactly that; we know a 16 tonne Rubber Duck isn’t a huge bath toy.

As well as securing great deals for all the types of insurance a business needs, we can also add real value to businesses by working in partnership to identify and minimise risk to save money, reduce disruption and hidden costs and ultimately protect the business.

UK Plant Traders are working closely with genuine UK used plant machinery dealers, finance and insurance companies to help reduce plant theft and fraud. Over the last few months we have been talking to key individuals from Plant Hirers, Vehicle Tracking & Machinery ID organisations.

Together we can stop it..