Crooks tracked down in Crook

TRACKER Network UK, the UK’s leading vehicle and plant tracking provider, reveals its latest success – the recovery of a £30,000 Caterpillar Mini-digger. The stolen plant was detected by a TRACKER employee – John Hayes – traveling to work.

The signal was picked up in John’s vehicle as he passed near to the village of Crook in County Durham. Checks revealed that it had been reported stolen earlier that morning over a hundred miles away in Humberside.

Joining local police officers and the air support unit helicopter, they managed to pinpoint the exact location of the missing digger in the middle of heavy undergrowth and bushes. With foliage camouflaging the stolen plant equipment the officers were standing just a few feet away and were only able to locate the digger with the aid of the helicopter.

Inspector Andy Huddleston of Durham Constabulary said: “The thieves took a lot of time and effort to move the digger across fields and conceal it in the bushes. However, all the effort was thwarted by the tracking device, and the owner was delighted to retrieve his equipment in such a short time. Examples like this demonstrate the benefit of the police and TRACKER working in partnership to deal with crime.

Stuart Chapman, TRACKER’s Police Relationship manager, himself a former senior police officer said: “We recognise that speed of recovery is essential for such thefts. The loss to the owner is often not just the financial cost of valuable plant equipment, but losses that occur when construction or agricultural work comes to a standstill due to the theft. This recovery was also unusual in that it’s not often that one of our staff is there to witness the recovery first hand!”