Thieves are suspected to have sedated lorry drivers with a gas attack while they stole their cargo at motorway services near Stansted on Monday night.

Dunmow police believe thieves pumped gas into the cabs of two lorries and knocked their occupants out as they slept at the Birchanger services near the junction of the M11 and the A120.

The driver of a British lorry phoned police at just before 6am on Tuesday to say his cargo of shoes had been stolen.

He complained of a dry throat and feeling dizzy and said thieves would have needed to use the lorry's tail lift, a noise which normally would have woken him.

Around the same time a father and son suffering from the same symptoms reported 12 washing machines had gone missing from the back of their Belgian lorry parked nearby.

Police believe gaps in the window or vents were used to pump the gas in. Pc Dave Rout said: "It is something lorry drivers must be aware of.

"If they are going to sleep in their cabs they need to take all precautions to look after them."

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) issued a recent warning that thieves were attacking drivers with air intake aerosols (used to start engines) which works as an anaesthetic.

Essex manager for the RHA, Craig Walker, said: "This is quite common in Europe in places like Spain and Belgium but there is only a few cases heard of in the UK."

Published Thursday April 8, 2004

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