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Lowfields boss in plea for help
By Carmel Harrison

FIRMS are being targeted by gangs of thieves using the M62 motorway.

Companies at Lowfields Industrial Estate, Elland, are so sick of the burglaries that they have asked for a security gate at the entrance to the site but Calderdale Council says it is a public highway and cannot be closed off.

The businesses say the lack of a gate means they are vulnerable to professional thieves using the M62.

'We are sitting ducks. We are in an ideal location for thieves who are able to take advantage of the remoteness of the place to smash, grab and run,' said Alisdair Couper, managing director of Terberg DTS UK.

'They are so brazen about it. I have CCTV footage of the faces of the last team who broke in here and stole computers. The goods were tracked down in Manchester.

'These people are not opportunists, they are professionals.'

'Many of the companies based here want security gates put up,' he added. 'But when you talk to the council they say they can't because it is a public highway.'

'You go to sites similar to Lowfields and there is a guard on the gate and a barrier system.

"The council said it is a through road and as such they are unable to put up a barrier, but the only place it leads to is the 50 or so companies on this estate.

"It is ridiculous to suggest they would be preventing motorists getting anywhere other than to Lowfields on legitimate business."

Detective Insp Mark McManus, of Halifax police, said a security gate would cut back on crime.

"Any added security would hamper criminal activity," he said.

A spokesman for Calderdale Council said it was a public highway and therefore the council was unable to block it off.

But he said the council was more than happy to liaise with companies and the police on matters of crime reduction.