Tradespeople demand fix for tool theft 'plague'

A Kent roofer who had £3,000 worth of tools stolen in the time it took to buy a coffee is backing calls for tougher penalties for thieves.

Dennis Richardson, from Maidstone, said: "We were out of sight for a couple of minutes at a coffee shop.

"I've got a family, and we've got to eat, we've got to pay bills. To suddenly have to find £3,000 is not easy," he said.

The government said it would continue to work with the police "to explore ways to tackle tool theft, ensure justice for victims, and punish criminals".

A bill is going through Parliament, tabled by a Hampshire MP, which seeks to impose harsher sentencing for tool thieves.

Mr Richardson, who works across the South East, and whose van was targeted in Dulwich, south-east London, said: "I would say they had followed me down that road.

"Every single power tool had been stolen."

He said: "I stay away from certain areas of London now. It's restricted the jobs I want to take."

He is joining a rally in Parliament Square on Monday, where campaigners will demand greater enforcement.

Paul Saunderson-Barker, a plumber from Sussex, who is also attending the rally, said he was left "devastated" after his van was broken into.

He told the BBC: "They stole power tools and a thermal imaging camera. I had over £6,000 of equipment stolen."

He said: "Other self employed traders locally have rallied around to help me."

Tens of millions of pounds worth of equipment is stolen each year, according to recent research by one insurance company.

Figures show that in 2023, of all the incidents of tool theft reported to the police, about half were taken from a vehicle.

Many of these are taken from vans, which are often left severely damaged after being targeted.

Builder Stephen Baker estimates he lost about £15,000 worth of tools when his van was broken into a year ago.

"It took them 22 seconds to get in to the van, four-and-a-half minutes to empty it," he said.

After losing his business because he was unable to work, Mr Baker said he tried to take his own life.

He said everything that he had ever worked for had been taken away in a matter of minutes.

"It's not just your tools that have gone missing, it's your career, your way of providing for family, it's everything. It's horrible", he says.

"I just felt worthless."

As well as individual tradespeople, organisations are also being targeted.

Power tools worth more than £20,000 were stolen from a charity workshop in Chichester, West Sussex, just before Christmas.

Sue Livett, the managing director of the Aldingbourne Trust, which supports adults with learning disabilities, said: "They were high value, good, solid tools, all worth a lot of money and necessary for the work we do."

Since the break-in the charity says it has increased security, but the long-term effects will be harder to fix:

"It makes people a bit less trusting and will affect the activities they can do," Ms Livett said.

Tradespeople from across the UK will gather in London on Monday to call for a change in the law to help deter the theft of their valuable tools.

Trades United, the campaign group organising the rally, says it wants to see longer sentences for criminals and curbs on selling second-hand power tools at knock-down prices.

Shoaib Awan, from the group, says the crime is a nationwide "plague that cripples businesses - the loss of work, the loss of earnings".

Mr Awan, who is a gas fitter from Romford, east London, founded Trades United after £8,500-worth of tools were stolen from his van.

"Things have to change. The penalties and punishments have to be there," he said.

Trades United is calling for stronger regulation around the sale of tools at car boot sales and markets.

At Kent Police's HQ in Maidstone, two shipping containers house nearly 4,000 stolen tools, worth about £1m, which were seized by the police over the last year.

Officers say they cannot trace the owners for a "large percentage" of them, and are calling for the compulsory registration of power tools' serial numbers at the point of purchase.

The Theft of Tools of Trade (Sentencing) Bill, tabled by Amanda Martin, MP for Portsmouth North, seeks to impose harsher sentencing for tool thieves.

The bill proposes adding theft of tools to the list of examples considered as causing "significant additional harm" to a victim.

It also aims to better recognise the total financial impact of having tools stolen, such as repairs to a vehicle and loss of work.

"When you add in the value of the work loss, the reputational damage, the damage to the vans as well it can far exceed the value of the stolen tools," the MP said.

"Even though we have preventative measures in place, tools are still being nicked."

The Bill is due for a second reading in April.

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