Tackling the Plant Thieves

Press release date: 26 November 2008

Despite its versatility, construction equipment tends to be very specialised in its application with each item of machinery, working in tandem with another, or as part of an equipment chain. A mini excavator works with a site dumper, an excavator with a grapple, a backhoe loader with a hydraulic hammer and if one of these links goes missing, the entire chain fails.

It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that with around £1 million worth of plant being stolen from UK sites each week, the cost to the UK economy is estimated to be well over the £100 million/year mark thanks to sites standing idle while a replacement machine is located.

As a key supplier to the UK mobile plant industry, Pirtek has thrown its considerable weight behind the CESAR system to help combat the growing problem of plant theft.

Staff at Pirtek’s 92 dedicated hose Centres are now qualified to install the official CESAR system backed by the Construction Equipment Association and powered by Datatag ID technology. “The first step in this process is to check the provenance of the equipment to ensure that the equipment’s serial numbers and VIN plates are intact and original,” explains marketing manager Tony Waring. “It is, of course, vital to check ownership prior to the CESAR system installation.”

For a fixed price, a trained and certified Pirtek technician will then fit the chosen machine or equipment item with tiny transponders, each containing a unique code that is permanently programmed into the integrated circuit. This code can only be read by the police using a sophisticated hand-held scanner.

Finally, two tamper-proof plates bearing a unique plant ID number are fitted to the machine, together with hundreds of miniature “datadots”. “The primary purpose of the CESAR system is to aid in the recovery of stolen equipment and the scheme has already enjoyed considerable success in that area with dozens of machine being recovered,” Waring continues. “The largely unseen benefit to the system, however, is that the ID plates act as an excellent deterrent to the opportunist thief. Furthermore, an increasing number of insurance companies are now offering premium discounts to companies using the CESAR system.”

Waring reports that the scheme and the way in which it is installed and administered has been developed to work with the construction industry. “We understand just how busy construction, demolition and plant hire companies are and that they can’t afford to have their equipment idle for any length of time,” he concludes. “Our technicians can install the CESAR system in under an hour and Pirtek will even take care of all the necessary paperwork and CESAR registration, allowing our customers to get straight back to work.”

Alistair Wiggins, Business Development Director, 020 8749 8444
Pirtek UK Ltd, 35 Acton Park Estate, The Vale, Acton, London, W3 7QE
E-mail: alistair.wiggins@pirtek.co.uk
Web: www.pirtek.co.uk