Truckers at war: British HGV drivers in a fight for survival as violent gangs hit them with targeted 'gas attacks' at UK service stations

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Britain's truckers are fighting for survival in a war with dangerous criminals who beat them up on the roadside, gas them in their cabs and steal fuel and cargo on a daily basis.
The horrific crimes, which are taking place at UK service stations and lay-bys, are leaving drivers at serious risk and leading some to take drastic measures to protect themselves.
With freight crime costing the UK economy £1bn since 2020, a shortage of 11,000 safe lorry parking spaces and a concerning lack of security at service stations, truckers are now pleading with the government to do more to protect them and bring in tougher sentences against the criminals.
MailOnline has spoken to several drivers who have lifted the lid on a scandal affecting over 270,000 UK HGV drivers operating in an overlooked yet increasingly dangerous industry, telling us: 'Nowhere is safe.'
Richie Lines has been driving HGVs for four years. Having worked as a digger operator on HS2, he moved into transport to follow a family tradition but has been left horrified about the risks drivers are exposed to by criminals on a daily basis.
The 33-year-old, from Norwich, said: 'On the A1, if you have your windows ajar, thieves will poke a hosepipe through the window or a vent, they gas you out, you don't know what's going on because you're knocked out and they take your stuff.
'I filled up with diesel on the A1, in nine hours I had the trailer emptied, there was probably £250,000 worth of salmon in there, I had the diesel tank emptied. That load was going to Scotland, that load didn't earn any money.
'I have a little metal bar, if I was to be woken up, I would chase them. But I am not going to get stabbed for diesel or a load. We need more safe parking, 24 hour security, a fence around it.
'HGVs are keeping this country alive, people need to know this is going on. It's about time people wake up and smell the coffee. If you stop the lorries for a week, who is going to put the food in Tesco's?'
The haulage industry is one of the most regulated in the country, with strict rules governing how long drivers can be behind the wheel and tight schedules to meet pick-up and drop-off deadlines. Drivers can be fined up to £2,500 on the roadside if caught breaking driving hour limits.
Truckers are allowed 15 hour shifts three times a week, this drops to 10 hours for the remaining two days a week. The gruelling schedules can see drivers on the road for up to nine hours a day.
But it is at the end of a shift when operators are most at risk.
Many try to go to truck stops at service stations but if they are short of driving hours or there is no space, they are often forced to bed down for the night in lay-bys on Britain's darkened A-roads.
It is at these truck stops and lay-bys where thieves ranging from sophisticated organised crime groups to petty thieves and fellow truckers are stealing fuel, nicking trailer loads of goods and even entire trucks - and using brutal tactics in the process.
While some service stations - which can charge anywhere from £25 to £50 a night - have security, many have almost no patrols, making truckers and their cargo sitting ducks.
In the Midlands, one crime ring is known to hang around truck stops near a Currys distribution centre to pinpoint wagons ferrying TVs, computers and games consoles which are later sold on the black market.
Videos shared online reveal trailers ransacked of goods while others show how thieves - some wearing high vis to appear professional - will slit a hole in the trailer's curtain to view the contents inside before raiding.
British truckers are claiming to be hit by a series of 'gas attacks' carried out by thieves while they park up for the night at UK services and laybys
The practice, known as a 'Smiley', is often irreparable and causes thousands of pounds worth of damage and leads to massive delays, fines and huge insurance claims. A hole in a truck's curtain can keep a lorry off the road for six hours.
Others will scope out lorries for diesel before siphoning up to 800 litres of fuel which is either sold on or used to fill up another truck.
As most trucks have only forward facing CCTV and lack decent security systems, the thieves, known sarcastically as 'The Diesel Fairies', operate with impunity.
Last month a trucker in Northamptonshire found himself in a fist fight with a Romanian lorry driver he caught siphoning fuel. Another video online shows a brave trucker confronting a fuel thief before he scarpers with gallons of fuel and tears off with his car boot open.
One trucker added: 'The other day a driver was parked in Crewe truck stop, left, came back in a car to rob trucks and was caught... It's rife and with no prison sentences to take them out it doesn't stop.'
Dave Morgan was taking a walk around Dover Truck Stop in Kent after a night shift when he explained how bad the situation is on the ground - and the lengths some drivers are going to just to protect themselves.
The 53-year-old, who was in the Army's Royal Corps of Transport for 21 years, said: 'I carry a baseball bat, I know I shouldn't but I do. It's something for your own security. I've never had to confront them but I would do.
'They jump on the top while you're asleep, because the sunroof is open, they'll spray a gas inside, it has knocked you out, smash the window in, you're out of it, and they'll rob your stuff.
'It's not my fuel but it's going to bugger my day up if they pinch it, mine is 500 litres, some of the big ones have 1,000 litres, a tank of fuel is a lot of money. Our company now tends not to lock our fuel caps, if they can't get into it, they'll just put a hole in the side of the tank, losing a tank and the diesel is a lot more than just taking the diesel.
'I understand the police are undermanned but I ring up and all they do is give you a crime number. There must be something the government can do, build their own truck stops, they're going to make money from it but I don't really know what the answer is.'
Jason Leake, a trucking influencer from Devon with over 15,000 Instagram followers, has similar concerns.
The 37-year-old, who works for Gregory Distribution, told MailOnline: 'There was one driver on the A303, he jumped out his cab during the night just to go toilet, he didn't know what was going on down the side of the wagon, they were trying to syphon his fuel, and he got beaten up.
'Last year I parked in Leigh Delamere just on the M4 near Bristol, stopped at 11pm, I went and paid for my parking, only about five minutes, I come back out and there are two guys at the back of the lorry with high vis on, looking at my trailer.
'You get people that come around and do a recce, then later on when it's a bit quieter, you probably get a little group that come down and maybe a bigger van where they can open the curtains up and easily get off what they want onto their lorry.
'Every night, every day, right across the country, no matter where you are, it is happening. Nowhere is safe, no motorway services are safe, like they should be, they should provide some form of security in the night that is visible, not just one that sits in the car.'
Tom, a specialist plant machinery trucker from Hull, was preparing to leave Folkestone Services for Cornwall when he told MailOnline he had been a victim of fuel theft.
He said: 'They broke the cap on the diesel tank, stuck in a pipe and took around 100 litres. If the fuel cap is locked and secured, if they really want it, they'll just put a hole in the bottom of the tank, then you've got the cost of the fuel and the tank. Sometimes it's beneficial if they just take the diesel.
'We had people broke into our depit and steal a whole load of pharmaceuticals. Some drivers at Thurrock have had their entire curtain slashed open, see what's there, if they can't get to what they want they'll go to the next.
'We are struggling for places to park, things like lay-bys, you're looking in the mirrors thinking there is something going on. Sometimes they're unavoidable if you're running out of hours or trying to get a delivery done.'
One Belarussian trucker called Andriy said he has seen 800 litres sucked out of a 1000 litre tank on UK roads and that he always avoids lay-bys. He showed a video taken in Scotland where two lorries in a lay-by had been drained of fuel and stranded.
The crimewave has left truckers taking to Facebook where theft focus groups share crime hotspot locations, pictures and videos of incidents to warn fellow drivers.
At the Airport Cafe truck stop on the A12 outside Folkestone, Kent, a secure parking lot, Pedro Pinheiro, a Portuguese truck driver said it is crucial drivers choose secure sites to park up for the night.
The 45-year-old, who has been driving trucks since 2001, said: 'My company, since 2014, says never to stop outside of secure parking. Even if we stop at the petrol station which has parking, if it's not secure, we won't take it.'
The stop is owned by David Morgan who has been forced to install dozens of cameras across his concourse - which has capacity for 32 wagons and costs £35 a night.
The 60-year-old, who also works as a builder, told MailOnline: 'I've got floodlights, cameras... I have alarms on the entrances which go off if anything does happen. When someone comes onto your property, not only are they on camera but there is a light that comes on and that is a sort of double deterrent.
'There are laybys on the opposite side of Canterbury, they are your areas where your fuel gets stolen. There is a large community of gypsies there, they like to syphon their fuel. It's pretty bad.
'There is a Ukrainian guy who confronted some men who cut his curtains [trailer cover], he got out and told them "what the f*** are you doing" and started fighting them. He's a big guy but he was limping when I next saw him. It's a bad job.
'The guys I had problems with cut curtains, had a little look but all the cameras were there, it's too risky for them.'
At the Port of Dover, German trucker Stefan Vuerman told MailOnline he had been working on Drake's UK tour and had just arrived from Manchester following the rapper's concert at Co-Op Live on Tuesday.
Heading to Belgium, the 55-year-old admitted he has felt safe in the UK moving in convoy adding how he thinks the real dangers are in Europe, explaining: 'In the South of Europe, Italy, Spain, France, they put the door open, put gas in it then you fall asleep. You wake up the next morning and all your stuff is gone.'
Efforts are being made by the Road Haulage Association (RHA), the HGV industry trade body, who are calling on MPs to back measures to tackle freight crime.
It includes lobbying ahead of the second reading of the Freight Crime Bill on 12 September. Rachel Taylor, the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, proposes freight crime should have its own crime code to help police target hotspots.
Last month, the RHA urged MPs to push for stricter freight crime-related sentences and for £6m annual funding to boost the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) in the Autumn Budget.
Richard Smith, Managing Director of the RHA, said: 'There's already a shortage of 11,000 safe and secure lorry parking spaces across the country as freight crime continues to thrive. More than £110m of goods were stolen last year alone, as the total cost of freight crime to the economy has topped £1bn since 2020.
'Lorry drivers deserve to feel safe at work, yet they remain easy targets for gangs looking to make good money from stealing goods and fuel.
'With a dearth of parking in many parts of the country, drivers are left parked in isolated, insecure spots like laybys and industrial estates, making them a low-risk, high-reward option for these criminals.'