April/May 2003

"Snail trails" are an attractive feature of many vehicle tracking systems, giving a retrospective map-based view of the route taken by tracked vehicles.

Last month this feature proved invaluable in cracking an organised crime ring in Merseyside. A truck loaded with personal computers worth £500,000 was stolen from a warehouse owned by Glenn Freight of Liverpool, a company which fits the Minorplanet tracking system in its fleet.

The tracking system was already set up to report on the vehicle's position in real time, so the company was able to activate this feature and tell the police where to look for it. It had been abandoned by the time it was found, and the load was gone, but Glenn Freight was able to "replay" the route taken by the thieves, and this showed a short stop at a warehouse on the Litherland industrial estate.

The police rushed to the spot, surrounded the warehouse and found it brimming with stolen goods, including a fork-lift truck, an artic and a car. Subsequently various arrests were made.

 

According to Glenn Freight's transport manager, Colin Joyce: "If we hadn't fitted Minorplanet's VMI system we would have lost our load, vehicle and possibly valuable future business."