APPG Chair tables Bill to tackle serious organised freight crime

The Chair of the APPG for Freight and Logistics, Rachel Taylor MP, has tabled a Bill in parliament calling for action to tackle the scourge of organised freight crime (18 March).

The Bill forms part of Rachel’s and the APPG’s campaign to tackle an epidemic of theft impacting the freight and logistics industry.

Without a specific crime code, large-scale thefts of freight goods are often categorised in the same way as thefts from personal vehicles, hindering the ability of the police to track and ultimately catch freight criminals.

Recent figures from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Police Service (NaVCIS) suggest that between 2023 and 2024 the total estimated value of goods stolen by freight criminals increased by 63%, to more than £110 million. However, without a dedicated crime code the true extent of the problem remains difficult to quantify.

Rachel said the huge increase in freight crime showed that at present criminals saw targeting the freight sector as a low risk, high reward crime. Far from the perception of freight crime as being low level and opportunistic, she said, it was actually being perpetrated by organised criminal gangs with a high level of skill and expertise.

The APPG recently published a report entitled Securing Our Supply Chains which made recommendations on the how the government can crack down on freight crime and secure supply chains. That report can be read by clicking here.

The Bill is a Ten-Minute Rule Bill, a type of Bill used by backbench MPs to bring attention to issues of importance to them and it calls on the government to introduce a specific crime code for freight crime, something the police and the freight industry say would make a huge difference in helping them tackle the issue.