CPA Continues to Help Fight Plant Theft and Fraud - Arrests Made in Lancashire

Funding by the CPA and other organisations continues to assist in the successful recovery of plant equipment stolen from CPA members.

Cheshire Police and the National Construction & Agriculture Theft Team (NCATT) have reported that eight people have been arrested in Burnley, Lancashire, as part of an ongoing investigation in relation to the theft of approximately £1 million worth of plant equipment from across the UK.

Those arrested - six men and two women - are believed to have been involved in the theft of high value plant equipment, using false identifications in order to hire out equipment with no intention of ever returning the machines.

The operation was led by officers from Cheshire Police, with the support of officers from NCATT and the Lancashire Rural Crime Team.

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by Ellesmere Port CID into the theft of plant machinery from hire companies across the UK. These include incidents in Cheshire, Cumbria, Humberside, West Midlands, Lancashire, Hertfordshire, Avon and Somerset, Staffordshire, Merseyside, Derbyshire, North Yorkshire, West Mercia and Lincolnshire. So far officers have arrested 19 people as part of the investigation, while a further six people have been interviewed under police caution.

The CPA is contributing over three years from 2024 - 2026 to help fund NCATT and fight plant equipment theft and fraud, which is costing the construction plant industry millions every year.