38 | NOVEMBER 2018
Motoring
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
TOOL THEFT HITS
RECORD THREE-
YEAR HIGH WITH
BREAK-INS COSTING
OVER £46 MILLION
IN THE AIR
TONIGHT?
Although the sun is still shining, the chilly mornings
are starting to creep in. Richard Gladman,
IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding
standards, has put together some tips to prepare
you for the colder weather that’s nearing us.
Tool theft from vans has soared by
15% in the last three years costing business-
es over £46 million, according to research
by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
Police forces across the UK have recorded
over 64,000 cases of theft from commer-
cial vehicles since April 2015 with a record
23,859 incidents in 2017/18.
Figures obtained by Volkswagen Commer-
cial Vehicles via a Freedom of Information
request* reveal the total cost of equipment
stolen from vans – which includes power
tools and heavy machinery – is more than
£46 million over the last three years.
And according to analysis of police fig-
ures, September is when van drivers should
be most vigilant with over 2,000 cases
recorded across the UK in September alone
last year.
The worst area for tool theft is central
London with the Metropolitan Police re-
cording over 8,000 cases a year worth an
average of £11 million. Northumbria (4,000
reports a year) and West Yorkshire (1,000)
were second and third. Humberside police
recorded the biggest rise over the three
years with incidents up by over 1,000%.
The cost of tool theft to businesses is
more than just replacement equipment with
drivers often unable to work while vans are
restocked, and locks repaired. Downtime
costs companies an estimated £550 a day
per van.
The first step to protecting your vehicle is
thinking about where you park it. Parking
in a well-lit area or in a car park with CCTV
will help reduce unwanted attention. Where
this cannot be achieved or if you have more
than one vehicle, parking them defensively
– in other words, where doors are blocked
by another vehicle or object – can be a
good deterrent.
For those van owners who wish to further
increase the security of their vehicles there
are various options available. Volkswagen
Commercial Vehicles offers a range of solu-
tions to ensure your van remains protect-
ed. As part of the Business Pack available
across its range of Caddy, Transporter and
Crafter, an anti-theft alarm system can be
specified with interior monitoring, a back-
up horn and tow-away protection. As part
of its Working With You promise, Volkswa-
gen Commercial Vehicles also offers a varie-
ty of lockable racking solutions and storage
boxes for expensive tools.
Another option is Volkswagen’s Car-Net
Security and Service (currently available on
Crafter) which allows van owners and fleet
managers to keep track of their vehicles via
a smartphone app. The Online Anti-Theft
Alarm alerts you via your smartphone or by
email if an attempt is made to break into
the vehicle and provides you with a report.
A Doors and Light function also reassures
you that the vehicle is fully locked.
www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk
•
It’s important to keep the wind-
screen clean. Try to get scratches, abra-
sions and chips fixed as colder tem-
peratures can make the damage worse.
Keep the windscreen washer topped
up with a more concentrated screen
wash mix to ensure it doesn’t freeze in
action. And don’t forget your de-icer.
• Check your tyres. The legal limit of a
tread depth may be 1.6mm but any-
thing under 3mm will see a potential
fall off in grip and braking perfor-
mance. If long-term cold weather is
forecast, and you can afford it, invest
in a set of winter tyres approved by
your car manufacturer. Don’t follow
urban driver myths of reducing the tyre
pressure to get more grip – it simply
doesn’t work.
• Set up a pre-winter check list. List
things that need to be checked such as
the car battery, bulbs, wiper blades and
electrics. You don’t want to be strand-
ed in a cold car in the middle of night
waiting for the recovery team to get you
up and running again.
• Dress appropriately for the weather. It
may be surprising but too many drivers
dress based on a working car heater. If
it breaks or you are stranded, you can
easily be caught cold.
• Start to plan for the really bad weather
with a survival kit in the boot. Spare
clothes, a torch, mobile phone charger,
some emergency rations such as water,
chocolate and a tow rope and shovel to
help yourself and others.
www.iamroadsmart.com