In the latest incident, a Dispatch van was stolen on 9 December and retrieved within one hour.
The Citroën Dispatch had just been collected from the dealer in Redditch by the customer. Overnight, thieves broke into the customer’s house, stole the keys and drove the van away.
As soon as the customer discovered the theft, the vehicle was reported stolen to Teletrac Navman’s Cranfield HQ and tracked by the standard-fit Trackstar system. This enabled West Mercia police to recover it within an hour of notification.
The telematics platform, which includes Smartnav intelligent sat-nav and Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking, is fitted as standard to all Berlingo, Dispatch and Relay panel vans.
Statistically, says Citroen, thefts of its LCVs are becoming less common thanks to standard security equipment, such as engine immobilisers, deadlocks and steering locks, as well as the Trackstar stolen vehicle system, incorporated in its telematics package.
Thefts tend to be the result of either the keys being left in the vehicle or thieves breaking into the customer’s premises to steal the keys.
Jeremy Smith, Citroën’s head of commercial vehicles, says: “We are delighted the unique Citroen telematics package has again resulted in a stolen Citroën LCV being recovered by the police within the hour. Citroen is the only LCV manufacturer in the UK to offer this efficiency, security and safety boosting package on its LCVs.”