WITH around £800 million of plant equipment stolen annually, eight of the country’s top hire companies have teamed up to beat plant theft.
A Plant, Brandon Hire, GAP Hire Solutions, Hewden, HSS Hire Group Plc, Nationwide Platforms, Speedy Solutions and VP Plc have joined forces to discuss ways in which the theft of plant machinery can be reduced.
The majority of plant theft occurs at construction sites rather than at depots. Items such as mini-excavators regularly go missing from sites, which has considerable cost implications attached as well as the repair of any damage done to access the site.
The meeting of the companies followed the seventh annual Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) conference held at JCB Headquarters in November. The conference pinpointed key steps that the construction and associated industries should take to ensure a proactive stance in combating the issue, with around 92% of construction and plant hire companies experiencing plant theft from sites across the country. All eight companies attended the CITS conference and decided to expand upon the original meeting by joining forces to share information, ideas and best practice. The inaugural meeting was held at GAP Hire Solutions Headquarters in Glasgow in February 2015.
The meeting was a great success and a number of options to reduce plant theft were discussed, including increasing depot and site security measures. It was also suggested that each of the companies should begin strengthening relationships with local police forces in order to gain better support. Whilst utilising resources such as trade bodies to promote and lobby the issue of plant theft is on the agenda going forward.
The next meeting will be held at Speedy Services HQ in Haydock in May 2015.
Iain Anderson, Joint Managing Director of GAP Hire Solutions and Chair of the Plant Hire Steering Group said, “The exchange of information is vital if we’re going to reduce theft and we have to work together in order to tackle this. As we are the biggest plant hire companies in the UK, we were able to share knowledge on how best to reduce theft rates. We will continue to do this going forward as well as adopt new practices that will hopefully have a positive impact on plant theft.”
Those who attended the meeting included, Iain Anderson (GAP Hire Solutions), Allister Maxwell (GAP Hire Solutions), Kevin McEwan (GAP Hire Solutions), Douglas McLuckie (A Plant), Ian McLaughlin (Brandon Hire), Paul Hughes (Hewden), Steve Roach (HSS Hire Group Plc), Mark Shirley (HSS Hire), Roger Wickens (Nationwide Platforms), Steve Giblin (Speedy Plc), Rob Bryan (Speedy Plc) and Amanda Knowles (VP Plc).
