Key points
- Organised theft from HGVs averages nine offences a day in the UK and cost £65 million last year.
- The Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit and NaVCIS will increase overt and covert patrols at HGV crime hotspots.
- Police say the weeks before Christmas are the riskiest, when more high-value consumer goods are on the road.
- In August, six people were arrested in Leeds in a national cargo theft investigation.
The campaign was announced by West Yorkshire Police on 14 October. It is led by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (YHROCU) together with the freight team of the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) and its partner, the Opal Supply Chain Crime Intelligence Desk.
Patrols at truck stops and along the M62
Officers will step up activity at HGV crime hotspots across the region. The plan includes:
- driver engagement evenings at key locations on the regional road network,
- more overt and covert police activity at HGV parking sites during those evenings,
- a partnership launch event at West Yorkshire Police’s Carr Gate site in Wakefield,
- a public event at Xscape in Castleford to raise awareness along the M62 corridor.
Detective Superintendent Al Burns of YHROCU, the national lead for serious organised acquisitive crime, said the weeks before Christmas are “a key time where thieves think there will be rich pickings for them”.
Nigel Collins, intelligence lead for freight at NaVCIS, added that “the sharing of intelligence between law enforcement and industry remains critical”. The events are meant to hear directly from drivers and encourage them to report freight crime to the police and NaVCIS.
Nine crimes a day
The national figures are worrying. NaVCIS received 3,424 freight crime notifications in 2025, about nine a day, with recorded losses of £65 million, as we reported in June. The real cost is higher, because it also includes damaged vehicles, missed deliveries and insurance.
NaVCIS figures quoted by Bosch Road Services show that 27% of thefts from trailers in 2025 involved curtain slashing.
Data from the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) shows that the risk changes from month to month. The UK recorded 224 cargo crime incidents in June and 48 in July, while losses across Europe nearly doubled and violent attacks became more common, as we wrote in September.
Arrests in Leeds
The new campaign follows an operation in August, when the YHROCU Regional Intelligence Unit arrested six people in raids in Leeds linked to a national investigation into organised cargo theft. Officers seized suspected stolen goods, drugs and weapons, including a stun gun. The suspects were released on bail.
What drivers and operators can do
Police say crime prevention advice is being shared with drivers. In practice, the main risk is unsecured parking during rest breaks. Operators can:
- plan rest stops at secure, fenced and monitored truck parks, especially for high-value loads,
- avoid long stops in lay-bys and on industrial estates near motorway junctions,
- report thefts and suspicious activity to the police and NaVCIS, even when losses are small.
Police also ask the public to report goods offered for sale in circumstances suggesting they may be stolen.
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