Spalding area NFU secretary highlights how thieves strike to exploit demand for farm machinery
NFU secretary Andrew Cross highlights an alarming rise in rural crime incidents in the latest Word on the Ground column...
This year has seen a huge increase in rural crime incidents, with NFU Mutual’s 2022 Rural Crime Report indicating that the cost of rural crime has risen by more than 40% in the first quarter, with quad and All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) theft totalling £2.2m in the previous year.
Shipping delays, the effects of Covid and Brexit are all contributing to a rise in demand for new and second-hand farm machinery. As waiting lists grow and market values soar, thieves are seeing quads and ATVs as expensive, easily portable items with a ready market in this country and abroad.
The NFU together with Greg Smith MP as well as other organisations, including NFU Mutual, have been working closely with the Home Office on the new Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill.
The key provisions the bill would facilitate are:
*Immobilisers: Electronic devices that will only allow the engine to run if the correct key or key fob is present, which will protect the vehicle from hot-wiring as well as deterring thieves.
*Forensic markings: Markers remain hidden on vehicles but can be identified under UV light or in some cases contain a unique code that can be read by scanners, giving the police evidence to link stolen vehicles to their owners.
*Registration database: This would give further support to the police, when they are trying to reunite stolen vehicles with their owners.
The NFU will continue to monitor the bill as it progresses through parliament and hopes that the government will support the passage of this bill. We would like to see its scope widened in secondary legislation to include other agricultural equipment, with the theft of GPS systems, tractors and trailers reportedly costing NFU Mutual £9.1 million in 2021.