The British International Freight Association, a trade group that represents all modes of freight transport in the UK, is pressing for a rethink on the potential closure of TruckPol, the dedicated road industry crime fighting unit in the UK. BIFA has given its backing to the Fight Freight Crime, Save TruckPol campaign spearheaded by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Freight Transport Association to preserve the agency.
Coventry-based TruckPol is part of the national Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, which collates and disseminates statistical data and intelligence on road freight crime within the UK.
Peter Quantrill, BIFA director general, is adamant that the agency must not be allowed to close for simple lack of funding. The campaign is looking for support from the road freight sector to raise funding for TruckPol at a time when organised truck crime is a growing threat.
He says: "We back the RHA and FTA in their joint campaign to save TruckPol. The agency is too important to the safety and well-being of the UK trucking industry that it simply cannot be allowed to be closed. Daily, trucks move up and down this country, carrying millions of pounds of cargo. Our membership depends completely not only on their own drivers but agency drivers and road haulage companies to deliver their promises.
"The security of these people, and the cargo they haul, must be paramount, and TruckPol remains a vital plank in the fight against road-related crime. Since the government stopped funding TruckPol in April last year, the burden of financing its work has fallen on the shoulders of private companies who have acknowledged the importance of its work.
"Now the funding seems to be running out and BIFA believes that the closure of TruckPol would lead to a loss of the specialised knowledge it has garnered over the years in the fight against truck theft and crime. Truck crime is often organised crime and the response of the law and industry must also be organised."
