South Wales Constabulary has successfully recovered a year old Thwaites 3 tonne dumper worth £14,000 in less than three hours, thanks to support from the Tracker system.

The dumper was on hire from Hire One Limited and was found on an industrial site in a warehouse in Cardiff. 

Paul Mahoney, plant controller at Hire One, explained: "Over 60 per cent of our equipment is fitted with a Tracker unit, providing us protection against permanent loss of machinery and tools.

"Thankfully the police were able to locate the dumper at such speed that it had no impact on our business, saving us a huge amount of financial loss and inconvenience. We're very relieved there was a good ending and it was back in the customer's possession by that evening."

Adrian Davenport, Police liaison manager for Tracker, sayid: "Not being able to recover stolen plant machinery can hit a business dearly. We are not just talking about the cost of replacing the stolen asset, but also loss of business revenue and increased insurance premiums. Tracker's relationship with UK police forces certainly ensures we can recover the majority of our customer's stolen property within 24 hours."

The National Plant & Equipment Register (TER) reports that plant theft costs the UK around £1 million every week, with 95 per cent of stolen plant equipment never being recovered each year.