Your long read (35,000 pints of stolen Guinness, 950 wheels of pilfered cheese: can the UK’s cargo theft crisis be stopped?, 31 March), which discusses the work of Mike Dawber, the UK’s leading detective in cargo crime, and Michael Yarwood, managing director for loss prevention at the global cargo insurer TT Club, refers to “a shared dream: a truck stop with perimeter fencing, full CCTV coverage, 24-hour guards”.
This particular dream was actually proposed to be fulfilled in the early 1970s, when the government published a design specification that had all of the features referred to, plus a good deal more besides, with a view to establishing a nationwide chain of such facilities.
The security fencing was proposed to be augmented by a semicircular “dry ditch” within the site, to prevent stolen vehicles ramming the fence to get out. Entry and exit for the vehicles was to be via “airlock” double gates, protected by rising plate anti-ram barriers, to prevent tailgating, all supervised from a control tower equipped with bulletproof glass. Within the compound there were to be fuel sales, catering and amenity blocks for the drivers, including overnight accommodation, to spare crew from sleeping in their vehicles.
My then employer, the British Rail estates department, was asked if there were any suitable sites available. The Liverpool division’s offering of the former Langton Dock goods yard, in Liverpool’s North Docks area, was greeted with enthusiasm and ranked as one of the best sites identified by the government.
Negotiations had barely started when it was announced that the whole concept had been dropped, like the proverbial hot brick, with little or no explanation as to why.
Messrs Dawber and Yarwood would probably not be the only ones to consider that a somewhat unfortunate decision.
Alisdair McNicol
Wallasey, Merseyside