Alert over surge in ‘tailgating’ parcel thieves
CITY centre residents are being warned about the dangers of parcel theft after a surge in incidents this year.
Covid restrictions and the subsequent spike in online shopping has meant postal deliveries are at an all time high.
But for shared buildings in Manchester city centre that often means parcels being left in insecure postal rooms or communal areas, especially as busy drivers are being told to have ‘zero contact’ with customers. Thieves are then taking advantage by tailgating or breaking in to raid packages.
Councillors for the Piccadilly ward say they are hearing of thefts ‘on a daily basis’ and have now launched a campaign in a bid to raise awareness and encourage people to be more vigilant.
“We’re still so naturally kind, people will open the door for someone as they’re going in, but we’ve got to resist that,” said Labour councillor Jon-Connor Lyons.
“We’ve seen it popping up in [social media] groups all year, that’s why we decided to do the poster campaign.
“It’s to deter tailgating but also raise awareness, everyone is so naturally kind but you could be letting a criminal into your building.
“We’ve had a reasonable take-up so far – about 20 requests for posters, not just in our ward but places like Salford and Ancoats. Police can’t have someone standing outside the building, it’s up to all of us to make sure we keep ourselves safe. Please do order an antitailgating poster and someone will arrange to drop it off with you for you to put up in your building!”
Recent figures from Barclaycard suggest there has been a more sustained shift towards online shopping during the months of lockdown.
But the switch appears to also be driving an increase in parcel theft – a crime that had already risen by 25 per cent in two years, according to figures obtained by delivery website iParcelBox in 2019.
One resident in the NOMA district said there has been a ‘huge rise’ in parcel thefts in his building in recent months. He said: “It only takes an opportunist thief to tailgate a resident and they can then take whatever they please.”
Catherine Bruce, who lives on Ludgate Hill, says her building is also being regularly targeted.
She said: “We’ve got these people tailgating, or perhaps they know the code, coming in pretty much every week, sometimes twice a week. They just take all the boxes they can get.
The M.E.N. submitted a Freedom of Information request to try to find out how many reports of parcel theft have been made in the city centre in recent years, and whether anyone has been prosecuted. The data supplied by GMP shows there have been 19 reports made this year, compared with 13 in 2019 and 17 in 2018. Not a single suspect has been prosecuted since 2017 when two suspects were summonsed to court.
However, GMP said their data should be analysed with the ‘caveat’ that the force brought in its much-criticised iOps computer system last July.
City centre Chief Inspector Zac Fraser said residents should be vigilant over Christmas.