An alarming report from The National Plant and Equipment Register recently exposed how plant & machinery is becoming a preferred target for thieves. It found that “The recovery rate for stolen plant and equipment is less than 5%. 95% of equipment that is stolen every year, year on year, is not recovered”

The reasons given for this worrying trend is that the Government has given no measurable target in relation to plant and machinery theft to Police Chief Constables coupled with the fact that penalties handed out are insufficient to deter criminals while rewards are high. Shockingly even moving such equipment from one police force area to another can be enough to guarantee the thieves can get away with it. This is because “There is little incentive for Chief Officers to become involved in investigating crimes which are both not a priority and which involve other police force clear-up rates”. National statistics show that there were 12,541 UK thefts of plant in 2010 with numbers well up on that in the ensuing years. 2,259 of them were JCBs, the number one stolen item, up an eye watering 66% on the previous year! Plant & Machinery theft cost the UK construction industry a staggering £800 million in 2014.

Faced with the apparent disinterest on the part of the authorities and the rising incidence of this type of theft what can the concerned owner do, particularly considering that most such machinery is kept outside on sites, often far from the public’s eyes? Fortunately, the answer is as brilliantly simple as it is simply brilliant: the fitting of a plant & machinery tracker. A plant & machinery tracker is a 21^st century response to the 21^st century vehicle thief who makes it their job to deprive owners of their valuable plant. Secreted within the very guts of the equipment a VHF GPS/GPRS Thatcham accredited plant & machinery tracker will monitor its whereabouts on a 24/7 basis, notifying the control centre if the equipment is moved without the owner’s knowledge. This information is then passed on the police and the owner giving the best possible chance of an early recovery. Additional features include motion sensing enabling the tracker to kick into action if the equipment is mounted onto a low loader; geographic plotting which sparks the tracker into life should it is taken out of a specified area and even state of the art immobilisation. Perhaps the most amazing feature that has recently been incorporated into the system is ADR (automatic driver recognition) which protects your vehicle from keyless car theft and key cloning. This is the ultimate in protection as the device can be configured to alert the owner of unauthorised movement of the vehicle when the card is not present or by rendering starting the vehicle an impossibility altogether.

The effectiveness of these devices was shown recently when a tractor that was stolen from a cricket club was returned the same morning due to the tracker that had been fitted. We at Vehicle Tracking Tech (VTT) have many years experience in fitting trackers to plant and machinery throughout the country at times best suited to owners at a fraction of the cost of the equipment and with the very real chance of a reduction in insurance premiums. Give us a call so that we can help you rest easy in the knowledge that thieves will be thwarted if they target your valuable kit.

Take a look at our best trackers for Plant & Machinery.