How much wood, could a wood chipper chip, if a wood chipper…. was stolen!

Picture the scene, it’s Friday evening, all your work is done and you are about to settle down for a nice relaxing weekend, ‘RING RING’ your phone sounds and Global Telemetrics is the name on the screen. 

Alicia from the Stolen Vehicle Recovery team informed our customer that his Timberwolf Wood Chipper was currently being moved. The customer confirmed that this shouldn’t be moving and was indeed stolen. Alicia immediately advised the customer to report it as stolen to the police and obtain a crime reference number whilst she prepped our dedicated Repatriations Team.

In the event of a theft of an asset the following process will occur: 

1. Customer will report their vehicle stolen on our dedicated theft line/Global Telemetrics will ring the customer to make them aware of one of the alerts that our system generates (Vehicle moving without ignition, Battery disconnected, Driver Detection not present)
2. If not already obtained, customer will be advised to ring the police and obtain a crime reference number
3. Global Telemetrics work with our agents who work alongside the police to secure your asset. Upon a receipt of crime reference number, agents will attend the location of your vehicle
4. As a safety precaution, upon notifying Global Telemetrics of a theft all access to our apps is temporarily disabled. We will keep the owner informed of any updates so they can rest assured everything is in hand. Global Telemetrics will not provide customers with an exact location of the asset to avoid customers endangering themselves
5. When the vehicle is secured, Global Telemetrics will call the customer to confirm that the vehicle is safe
6. The police will arrange with the customer collection of the vehicle either from its location or after recovery and forensic examination 

Armed with a crime reference number and a location, the Repatriations Team headed out to locate the vehicle. Within 25 mins of getting the initial confirmation the vehicle was stolen the team had sight of the vehicle. However, this recovery was not going to be a straight forward recovery. 

Upon arriving at the site where the vehicle was located, there was a lot of hostile activity and a large presence of people unwilling to let the team have any access. The team had confirmed via drone that the wood chipper was there but to get to it would require some police backup. 

During this wait, the battery had been disconnected on the Timberwolf, this is usually an indicator that a device is being searched for or has been removed. The Repatriations Team however had the area surrounded and there was no way they were letting this one get away. 

After a few hours of negotiations, hostility and back up being deployed, including a rogue shot being aimed at the car of a Repatriations Agent. The team were finally able to access the area and secure the vehicle. Under police supervision the owner was able to collect the woodchipper and transport it safely back to where it belonged. 

To protect your assets, further information on the products we provide can be found on our website 

https://smartrack.uk.net or by giving us a call on: 0800 279 6401 or via [email protected]

You can also find all of our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/globaltelemetrics