THE theft of pallets from businesses for Eleventh Night bonfires is an “industrialised crime” backed up by paramilitary threats and intimidation.
That’s the claim of a 40-year veteran of the local freight industry who has blown the lid on the scale and extent of spring and summer pallet theft across the North – and in Belfast in particular.
Our source says a steady annual supply of pallets is ensured by threats from the UDA and UVF to burn premises, lorries and goods of manufacturing and retail businesses in loyalist and mixed areas that don’t play ball.
And it’s the fear of violent retribution that means local industry not only continues to allow thieves to enter their premises and take what they want with impunity – but also ensures their silence.
The West Belfast man says that while the perception of bonfire collectors remains that of schoolkids wheeling pallets on a trolley through the streets, the truth is that in the new era of monster bonfires the theft of pallets is carried out by gangs of adults using lorries, vans and trailers.
Large manufacturing and retail businesses turn a blind eye as vehicles – sometimes as large as tractor units with 40-foot trailers – enter yards and depots and simply help themselves. And with the penalty charge for companies failing to return leased 'blue' pallets standing at just under £30 per unit, it's crime on an endemic scale that is costing industry across the North millions of pounds every spring and summer.
“It’s cheaper for companies to lose thousands of pounds worth of pallets every summer than for their lorries or yards to be burnt,” our source said. "So they allow the pallets to be taken and they say absolutely nothing about it."
He added that pallet theft takes place so brazenly and on such a huge scale that the police are fully aware of it. But, said our source, “It’s handier all round for everybody to pretend it’s not happening – and that includes the police.”
He added: “Try picking just one of those blue pallets up – and then ask yourself how thousands and thousands of them make it from yards and depots to bonfires. Because these pallets aren’t left out in the open. They are stored in secure premises alongside goods and lorries. That's not kids. That's organised gangs.”
In a special feature today, we report with the help of the industry veteran on the reality of the scale of pallet theft and the cost to industry of companies and the police doing precisely nothing about it.
“If you stole a bar of chocolate that’s delivered to a shop on a pallet you’re more likely to get arrested and charged than if you stole tens of thousands of pounds worth of pallets in a van or lorry,” our source said.
“There is a total failure to understand the cost involved.”
It’s a cost, says our source, that’s being paid by the manufacturing, retail and freight industries – and it’s a cost that’s ultimately being picked up by the shopper.
