Detectors cut costly damage on forecourts

30 Apr 09

External detectors have been praised for dramatically reducing crime and thefts from car dealerships throughout the north east.

The rising value of scrap metal last year led to a spate of thefts from forecourts all over the country, with thieves specifically targeting catalytic converters worth of hundreds of pounds.

North east regional chairman of the National Security Inspectorate NACOSS Regional Gold Scheme, David Gray, was made aware of the problem while attending NACOSS committee meetings and hearing southern installers’ concerns.

Gray said: “During last summer the value of raw metal hit an all time high and the amount of catalytic converters stolen increased dramatically.

“This trend spread to the north, where more than 20 were being stolen from forecourts every month.

“Four-by-fours and people carriers were the main targets because it is much easier to get underneath them to steal the parts.

“Thieves were cutting the exhaust pipe and removing the converter, so the entire exhaust system would have to be replaced. In some cases the cost would run into thousands of pounds.”

As SME sales director of IDS Fire and Security, Gray installed a combination of Optex Redwall and Redwave detectors at several sites for one of the largest and best-known private motor retailers, with showrooms across the north east, north west and Yorkshire.

Where the detectors had been installed, the number of incidents was greatly reduced, he said.

“It seems that thieves target sites that have cameras, but not those that have detectors as well.”