Following the discovery of the theft of its recently purchased Caterpillar® D6K track-type tractor from a site in Essex, UK, at midnight on 14th of February, Sewells Reservoir Construction ltd (SRC), operations manager, Oli Rees immediately contacted local Caterpillar dealer Finning’s out of hours service and support team. Thanks to Product Link on the stolen machine, the team at Finning was able to use the GPS technology within the Product Link system to track the unit’s movements.

To everyone’s surprise it had taken the thieves less than 12 hours to move the D6K from its Essex location, over the English Channel to France. But the biggest surprise was reserved for the thieves themselves, when officers from Interpol located their vehicle in a lorry park just 20 miles from the German border at 6.30pm, the same day.

Caught red handed, the three thieves were arrested by police in possession of the Caterpillar D6K, which was then impounded, much to the delight of Oli Rees who commented: “ I was amazed at how quickly Finning were able to respond to my call. Just ten minutes after my initial call, they rang me back to tell me the team had located our Caterpillar D6K 6.7 miles east of Calais. I couldn’t believe in just a short space of time the thieves had managed to get the unit out of the country. I knew that plant was a major target for theft, but it is now clear to me just how organised these types of criminal gangs are.”

Oli Rees added: “I certainly never expected to see the D6K again and am just so impressed with the actions of Finning’s staff who helped us to retrieve it. What surprised me throughout the whole project was the ability to gain the GPS co-ordinates from the onboard Product Link system.”