JCB today announced plans to turn up the heat on plant thieves by offering - as standard - some form of anti-theft device on more than 80% its machines sold in the UK and Ireland from 2011.

The move will protect thousands more construction and agricultural machines from theft in the UK and Ireland, where every week more than £1 million worth are stolen - and just eight per cent are ever recovered.

From 2011 and under the name ‘JCB Guardian’, all of JCB’s backhoe loaders, telescopic handlers and tracked and wheeled excavators will be fitted with both an immobiliser and the JCB LiveLink system which allows machines to be tracked and located by satellite if stolen. This is the first time that any JCB product has been protected as standard with both immobilisers and Livelink – a move that will help save some UK customers almost £1,500 over three years in insurance premiums with JCB Insurance.

Extending protection to other products, JCB LiveLink will be installed as standard on JCB’s wheeled loading shovels and range of Telemaster articulated shovels. In addition, immobilisers will be fitted as standard on JCB’s range of compact telehandlers and mini excavators.

UK and Ireland Sales Director Yvette Henshall-Bell said: “Plant theft is a huge problem in the UK and it’s getting worse. With one in three machines sold in the UK made by JCB, more JCB machines are stolen than any other and as the UK’s number one supplier of construction equipment, we are leading the way in theft prevention. We are the only manufacturer offering, as standard, anti-theft measures on such a wide range of products. While it was rare two years ago for customers to ask for theft protection on machines, more and more are now asking for them.

“It’s our intention to make life as difficult as possible for thieves by introducing theft protection as standard on our products and at the same time saving our customers the cost and inconvenience caused by plant theft.”

JCB LiveLink provides a telematic link to JCB’s machines which gives customers real-time location information, with curfew and geofence alerts – a real defence in the fight against thieves. In addition it can monitor the health of the machine as well as machine hours and performance.

In 2009 JCB became the first excavator manufacturer to achieve a three-star Thatcham security rating in the agricultural and construction machinery sector, with the standard applied to it JS and JZ tracked excavators and 801 and 8020 mini excavators.

Two years earlier JCB also led the fight against plant theft when it began fitting the industry registration system known as CESAR as standard to its machines. CESAR was developed by the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office Plant Theft Action Group. The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) is now the lead organisation responsible for managing the scheme and owns the CESAR trademark. Each machine fitted with CESAR has microchips containing ownership details embedded into the equipment. Machines have two tamper-resistant security plates featuring a unique code, which are both visibly displayed and lasered on to the plate. These details are also logged on a central database to help the police return recovered machines to their owners.

UK machines equipped with CESAR, immobilisers and LiveLink could benefit from insurance premium reductions of up to 45% (*based on an individual machine and subject to individual circumstances) through JCB Insurance. This can be as much as £157 per year on a mini excavator, rising to almost £500 on a JS130 tracked excavator. Over three years of ownership that can equal a £1487.70 saving on a 13 tonne machine.

Picture caption: UK owners of JS130 tracked excavators could save almost £1,500 in insurance premiums over three years through JCB Insurance when the machines are equipped with CESAR, immobilisers and LiveLink.