By Colin Sowman of ContractJournal.com
Kosran’s ECV proved to be an insurmountable barrier to thieves set on stealing a Cat 301.6C belonging to Hewden and on hire to CIK Construction of Basildon, Essex.
The £12,000 machine was parked for the weekend at St Alban & St Stephen School when it was attacked by the thieves who spliced the loom and hot wired its electrical system.
However, they weren’t prepared for Kosran’s electro-mechanical valve (that cuts the diesel supply and requires an electronic code to open) which is integrated into the engine systems and secured with a hardened steel shield, and so left empty handed
Insurer Allianz estimates the cost to the contractor of each plant theft is £7,500 due to the hassle and disruption to business, downtime, idle crew and cross-hire charges.
