Road transport industry can tackle €8 billion EU cargo theft problem through CCTV

The European Commission (EC) has released a report that shows cargo theft from lorries within the EU costs over €8 billion each year. Such is the growing incidence and severity of transport crime, the EC's latest transport security working document outlines a need for better levels of security to address both cross border and border entry point security across the EU. According to Cobra UK's Managing Director, Andrew Smith, there is an immediate fix to address the safety of cargo, vehicles and drivers by installing CCTV cameras in the cab and load area.

"The quality and price of CCTV technology has changed dramatically even in the past 12 months and we believe all HGVs which travel cross border, or that carry high value or hazardous goods should have live CCTV technology installed," said Smith. "The upfront investment in the cost of the cameras featuring live streaming using low cost 3G networks will be more than recouped by prevention of a theft of, or from a vehicle," he added.

Another major consideration is cutting the costs of accidents and providing admissable video evidence in the fight to combat the growing issue of staged incidents that lead to fraudulent insurance claims.The standard of driving across EU countries and then into the wider non EU regions varies greatly and having high quality CCTV images to help track the cause of a staged or genuine accident will help operators protect their insurance claims history.

Any video footage captured by Cobra's Global Live mobile CCTV monitoring system can be used as evidence against third parties and for staff training purposes. These sit under the broader heading of Health and Safety issues where employers are legally required to prove they are fulfilling their "Duty of Care" obligations in taking every precaution to manage the safety of their employees when they drive on company business.

Global Live is a bespoke CCTV solution. The number and position of cameras can be tailored to the needs of individual customers. However, the typical supply and installation of Cobra's Global Live CCTV security system with two cameras, one in the cab and one in the load area costs around £1200.