In a joint letter to the editors of The Times and The Sun newspapers, BSIA chief executive, David Dickinson, and GMB acting general secretary Paul Kenny have criticised “a storm of media comment – some of which can only be described at best as ill-informed, and at worst as irresponsible”.
The letter continues: “This is not an incidence of audacious criminals pulling off a major coup or a ‘crime straight out of an Ealing comedy’, but a further example of the growing number of violent attacks against an industry which is vital to the efficient running of the UK economy and the operations of banks and retailers nationwide.
“Cash-in-transit attacks have been rising in number and violence over the past 18 months and pose a growing threat to the people working in the industry and in the worst cases, to members of the public.
“An industry study has revealed that such robberies can directly result in up to 15 other crimes being committed before or after the attack, using the proceeds of that attack.”
The BSIA and GMB are running an ongoing campaign to reflect the serious nature of cash delivery crime and to encourage the Government and police to assist in reducing the number of attacks against cash-in-transit couriers.
An Early Day Motion (967) on the issue has been tabled in Parliament and calls on the Government to recognise CIT attacks as a human rather than a business crime and to tackle this problem urgently as part of its wider organised crime agenda.
At the time of writing the EDM had the backing of 84 cross-party MPs and was on course to go beyond 100 names.
Representatives from the BSIA, the GMB and industry leaders have already met with Hazel Blears MP, Home Office Minister, to discuss the need to give a higher priority to cash-in-transit robbery.
The discussion follows not only the Kent robbery but criticism from the BSIA over the screening of the Channel 4 Derren Brown programme ‘The Heist’, which it claimed was in breach of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code for encouraging crime and endangering lives.
