Gangs use pumps to drain fuel from lorries

Gangs are using electric pumps to drain lorries of diesel as freight crime across the West Midlands soars.

Thieves are also drilling into tanks to obtain fuel.

Figures released today reveal the numbers of thefts of fuel from lorries is outstripping other crimes involving large goods vehicles for the first time in two years.

Raids on lorries - including terrifying hijackings - have cost local firms a staggering £2.75 million over the last three months.

At an average of £72,000 for each offence, the spate of thefts made the West Midland's figures the fifth-highest in the country.

Walsall was singled out as the West Midlands' lorry crime capital, with 10 offences recorded, while West Bromwich and Tipton clocked up nine. Three of four violent robberies took place in Walsall and the other was in Wednesbury.

A total of four lorry raids were carried out in Wolverhampton and Bilston, with a further four in Dudley.

Andy Round, from TruckPol, the police body that monitors lorry crime, said: "The increase makes it even more important that people in the haulage industry and members of the public are vigilant to these types of crime and report anything suspicious."