A haulier has outsmarted thieves who dumped a stolen trailer just yards from its usual destination.
The £30,000 unit disappeared from the Inveralmond Industrial Estate in Perth after undergoing an MOT, but turned up four weeks and 165 miles later in Blyth, Northumberland.
It was only thanks to the detective skills of Barhaul drivers Andrew Dickson and Ewan Dunbar that the trailer was discovered, next to a scrapyard they visit several times a week.
Managing director of the Aberfeldy firm Patrick Bradley told The Courier he did not expect to see it again, after his insurance company warned him it was probably already overseas, but that did not stop his eagle-eyed employees from looking for it.
“Last Thursday when Andrew was down in Northumberland, he thought he saw a trailer that looked awfully like ours,” he said. “Unfortunately, he had just been able to catch a glimpse of it as he passed by but Ewan decided to take a closer look when he was there on Tuesday.
“He had pulled that trailer previously, so when he had a good look at it, he told me he was 99.9% sure it was the one that had been stolen.”
To the untrained eye, the 28-tonne tipper looks indistinguishable from any other trailer, particularly since the thieves had removed Barhaul’s unique identifier number, but Ewan was able to spot one feature that set it apart.
Mr Bradley added: “There were particular visible markings, but basically the trailer has got a device that we always had trouble with. When this was repaired, the front cover was not properly replaced, so that is why Ewan could say it was our one,” he explained.
The two-year-old trailer had just been fitted with more than £3,000-worth of new kit, including tyres, before it underwent an MOT.
The sneaky thieves waited until after midnight on February 28 to swoop on the unit as it sat unattended on Inveralmond Road.
The theft did not come to light until hours later, when Mr Bradley contacted the garage to arrange to collect the unit and was told it had already been picked up.
Despite reviewing CCTV footage from a nearby business, police were unable to identify the tractor unit and its whereabouts remained a mystery until last week.
“It was just good luck on my part and bad luck for the thieves,” Mr Bradley said. “This was an exceptional circumstance, but we certainly won’t be leaving any trailers unattended in future.”
Tayside Police confirmed the theft is still being investigated.