Thieves use new tactics to accelerate rural crime

A NEW trend in rural crime has emerged in Aberdeenshire with would-be criminals following fuel tankers out to farms and properties to find out where fuel is being delivered.

This then enables the thieves to return under cover of darkness and help themselves to the contents of the newly filled fuel tanks.

A similar tactic is being followed with the delivery of quad bikes, where thieves follow the delivery truck and then return to steal the newly delivered vehicle.

This emerged from a UK-wide survey carried out by the major rural insurer, NFU Mutual. The survey also highlights the way that thieves are getting around pinching tractors or quad bikes which have tracker devices fitted.

In such cases, the thieves will often hide the vehicles in a remote area to see if the item is recovered by the police.

If, within a couple of days, the stolen item has not been recovered then the thieves can be pretty confident it does not have a tracker device fitted. The in-depth national survey has been based on the claims experience of more than 300 NFU Mutual branches located in rural towns and villages throughout the UK.

In Scotland, only 23 per cent of agents reported rural crime in the area had increased compared to the same period in 2009 with another 31 per cent saying that rural crime in 2010 had remained at the same level.

Quad bikes, power tools and trailers have topped Scotland's list of most stolen items.

But the picture throughout Scotland is very varied with Mutual agents in the Dumfries and Galloway area reporting an increase in rural crime in the region, including a spate of livestock and ATV thefts whereas the NFU Mutual agent in Dingwall stated the agency's last theft claim was in 1998.

Overall the Mutual's own claims figures show the number of farm machinery thefts across the UK rose by 5.5 per cent in 2009.

The cost to the industry was put at 42.2 million, almost one third higher than the previous year's 30.28m.