There is a well known saying, 'no pain, no gain' and that will be ringing true in the minds of Milk Link’s 1,600 producers, who are on the brink of reaping just reward for 12 years of loyalty and investment.Rural crime: Red diesel/fuel thefts
Across the board, thefts of fuel from farms, especially red diesel, have escalated.
Police believe this is down to the rising cost of fuel and the accessibility of farms to criminals. However, in a handful of areas such as Cambridgeshire, Devon and Cornwall, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, the number of thefts have plummeted.
The five hotspot areas are:
- Strathclyde - thefts increased from 36 to 42
- North Wales - thefts doubled from 5 to 11
- Derbyshire – saw an increase of 21 to 24
- Hertfordshire - thefts doubled from 11 to 23
Freedom of Information
If you have experienced crime in your area call your local police force or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
FG sent requests to all the police forces in the UK under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Act allows the public access to information from public bodies.
We asked 51 police forces excluding City of London to provide information on thefts of livestock, tractors, all terrain vehicles (ATVs) other farm equipment, machinery and fuel including red diesel.
Most forces record crime data in different ways and some forces asked us to point out that some data may not be 100 per cent accurate. Other factors also have to be taken into consideration such as the amount of farms and rural communities in a force area and how far the area spans.
Under the FOI Act, public bodies have the right to refuse information if the cost of gathering the data would go above £450 which equates to 18 hours’ work. FG was unable to obtain information from the following police forces: Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, North Yorkshire, South Wales, and Northern Constabulary in Scotland.
The statistics from the 45 police forces which answered the request showed almost every force UK-wide had seen some form of increase during the period October 1 to March 31 2009/2010 and October 1 to March 31 2010/2011.
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Readers' comments (3)
Phil Hughes | 10 June 2011 9:19 pm
Errm, that's only four hotspot areas. Has somone stolen one?
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Newt | 11 June 2011 4:45 am
Phil if its not bolted down they'll take it!
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Jamie Chater | 4 October 2011 9:53 am
hello all, my name is Jamie i work for an independantly owned security company in the south east of england. I have an intruder alarm system which i believe to be filling a hole in the security market, its all well and good having intruder alarms on farm buildings and houses but what about ur grounds? they are yours too. With this system i am talking about we can cover your grounds and catch intruders as soon as they even walk through the front gate, climb over then fence or scramble through the bushes. If you would like a demonstration of our wire free intruder alarm system please feel free to contact us on 01233 334135. Thank you for your time. Jamie
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