Lancashire Police located a stolen Hitachi mini digger in under an hour with the help of the signal emitted from a device fitted by TRACKER, the stolen vehicle recovery (SVR) solutions provider. Officers uncovered the mini digger stolen from Blackburn on a trailer which had itself been stolen from the nearby town of Chorley. Used Hitachi mini diggers can sell for in excess of £20,000.
The National Plant & Equipment Register reports that 95 per cent of plant equipment stolen every year is not recovered. However, TRACKER figures show that 68 per cent of all plant it recovers is found within 24 hours of the SVR device being activated, with 10 per cent recovered within one hour.
TRACKER says that £50 to £70-million worth of plant and agricultural machinery is stolen every year. Only around five percent is ever recovered but it claims that fitting a tracking device to plant and agricultural machinery significantly increases the chances of stolen equipment being located by police and returned. TRACKER is a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Line Insurance Group Plc and has, to date, helped police forces around the UK to recover over £475 million worth of stolen vehicles.
