Thatcham Research has been at the forefront of vehicle security since the 1990s when it introduced the New Vehicle Security Assessment (NVSA) to address levels of vehicle crime and launched the Thatcham Categories for Alarm and Immobiliser systems that is now established as an industry benchmark. 

As of 1 January 2019, all Thatcham Research security product assessments have been conducted under a new ‘Thatcham Security Certifications’ brand, an overarching service. The certification provides reassurance around the functionality, design and performance of alarms, immobilisers and tracking systems.  

With the festive season fast approaching… we can almost hear the clinking of glasses at the endless Christmas parties to be taking place up and down the country.

That’s why, the owners of a beautiful Piaggio Ape Prosecco Bar were left in a fizz, when they discovered their bar had been stolen from a ‘secure’ storage compound.

Back in May we received a call from a long-standing customer, who reported that one of their vans had been stolen from a construction site in West London. We immediately got to work on the recovery, and put the tracker into alarm mode.

Established in 1974, Chasetown Civil Engineering is a market leader specialising in infrastructure, groundworks and related building services with project values ranging from £100,000 to £50million. 

Established in 1865, Bethell has grown from a small, family-owned, firm to one of the most successful construction services companies in the UK. Bethell have a clear vision [and a strong set of values] - one of the most important being to 'Put Safety first and ensure all our projects are delivered accident-free'.

Getting the best of all worlds is the ultimate goal for any manufacturer, but just how achievable is it, in reality? Unlike most tracking companies, Sure-Track actually manufacture our own devices. 

 As the Cub Scout motto says, you should always 'Be Prepared', which is just what a Scout group in the South East ensured when they fitted their minibus with a Sure-Track MT3. 

Earlier this week, Sure-Track received a call from a concerned Patrol Leader who discovered the troop's White Ford Transit Minibus, worth £15,000, had been stolen. The Sure-Track bureau assured the Patrol Leader that we 'promise to do our best'... and that's exactly what we did! 

'You're only as good as your last performance.'

We all know the expression... and it's one that we live by here at Sure-Track. So it's always great to get some more successful recoveries under our belts. 

September was a busy month for Sure-Track, our finders successfully recovered five stolen assets with a combined value of over £100,000. Further cementing our belief that our vehicle tracking and recovery solutions are the very best on the market! 

Building and construction sites are perfect targets for thieves, especially when work has finished for the day and the site is empty.

In particular, we have recently noticed that generators are becoming an increasingly popular target for thieves. A stolen generator can be sold relatively quickly for a substantial amount of money. 

Our latest recovery was for a long standing customer, whose £20,000 generator was stolen overnight from construction site in the East of England. 

Sure-Track is delighted to announce that we have recently been awarded a place on the ESPO framework (545 / Vehicle Telematics and Associated Products & Services).

This ESPO framework provides access to a range of vehicle telematics solutions, tracking systems and associated products and services suitable for cars, minibuses, heavy goods vehicles, light commercial vehicles and other specialist vehicles.

A recent survey carried out by the insurer Allianz Cornhill has revealed that more than £70M worth of construction and plant machinery was stolen from sites across the UK in 2016. It estimates that the UK construction industry is now losing over £800 million a year when other costs associated with plant theft are taken into account.

Thieves are attracted to plant machinery because of the generally very low recovery rates (less than 10%) compared with motor vehicles (55-60%). This is because plant machinery has few identifying marks that can be easily seen and lack of registration documents mean it is difficult for the police to identify stolen plant and return it to the owner.

It was a busy end to the year for Sure-Track, recovering over £100,000 worth of stolen assets for our customers. Evidence that our MT3 vehicle tracking and recovery device is the ideal solution for customers looking to protect their vehicles.

We work across various industries, and our recent recovery list shows just that:

A recent survey conducted for the Chartered Institute of Building identified that 92% of their respondents in the construction industry are affected regularly by theft, with over 21% of these revealing that theft takes place on a weekly basis from their sites.Theft of construction equipment runs at over £2 million per day in the UK and only about 5% is ever recovered.

This high volume of plant and construction theft means that many in the industry are taking extra precautions to ensure their sites and machinery are secure. Sure Track works with many plant and construction companies across the UK, who take advantage of our MT3 tracking and recovery unit to increase their chance of getting their equipment back quickly, should it ever be stolen.

After two decades on the decline, the number of cars stolen in England and Wales rose by a staggering 9% in 2015 alone. In response to this, Sure Track works with many car owners as well as a high volume of top car dealers. Our Thatcham approved MT3 tracking and recovery device helps car owners and dealers remain one step ahead of thieves, safe in the knowledge that should their vehicle ever be stolen, we'll go above and beyond to ensure it gets recovered!

Read on to discover our latest find, a car stolen from a car dealer’s forecourt in Manchester!

Date: 24/07/16

Customer: Yorkshire Construction Firm

Location: Manchester

Asset stolen: JCB 533-105 Telehandler

Asset value: £40,000