Police have offered advice for building site and plant owners following a major theft of diesel fuel in Worcestershire.
Thieves targeted the former Blue Bird Toffee factory site on Bromsgrove Road in Hunnington which is currently being developed into housing.
Offenders stole 600 litres of diesel over the night of June 27 and 28 after taking caps off machinery including a digger, roller and other equipment at the large site.
PC Nigel Bolton, a Rural and Business Crime Officer for West Mercia Police, said such sites can be a target since plant machinery and vehicles started using white diesel after the removal of the red diesel tax rebate on construction vehicles in April 2022.
“This has made it easier for thieves to steal fuel from sites which is now harder to detect than the red diesel still used in farm vehicles and machinery,” said PC Bolton.
“Offenders are likely selling it on or using it themselves but there are ways to protect against these thefts.”
He advised building firms and site owners can protect their plant machinery by corralling them together before leaving the site, installing CCTV or using temporary monitored intrusion detection systems, details of which can be found on the police-approved Secured by Design website.
“Alarms can also be fitted to large fuel bowsers that send an alert if there are rapid drops in fuel levels consistent with offenders draining the tanks,” added PC Bolton.
PC Mike Roberts, Rural, Business and We Don’t Buy Crime Officer for West Mercia Police, added: “Building sites can be very difficult to protect as they are usually large, with weak boundaries in some places, and may need better security.”
“In some cases we’ve also offered forensic marking solutions to protect kit which is owned by the companies but this can prove difficult as it’s often many different companies and contractors involved in different aspects of the site.”
Advice to protect machinery includes:
- Using trackers, alarms, an immobiliser and installing site CCTV
- Remove keys from cars, tractors and any other vehicles you leave unattended.
- Shackling them together, or chaining them to a hitch secured to the ground or strong fabric of a building
- Marking your property with a postcode so you always know which item is yours
- Make a property list of your valuable items, detailing the make, model, serial number, value and description
- Take photographs of all your valuables and note any distinguishing marks, including where and how you’ve property marked it
For more information visit https://www.westmercia.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rc/rural-crime/heavy-machinery-theft-prevention/
