THEY are integral to their livelihoods.

For many trades people their vans are a mobile workplace. Whether parked within the safe surroundings of the home or, as in one case, outside the job where the joiner was working at the time who, fortunately disturbed thieves in their attempt to steal his vehicle, vans and their contents are a target.

When Russell Reeday's van was attacked by thieves on New Year's Eve, the cost of replacing his stolen tools forced him to contemplate leaving the career. The self-employed joiner and builder set up his maintenance business in 2007.

"I've been in the building game for 30 years and after all my tools went I thought about coming out of the building trade altogether," says Russell.

After smashing the quarter light on Russell's Volkswagen Vivaro while it was parked outside his Bradford home, thieves were able to open the locks and steal more than £3,000 of tools.

"It's soul destroying," says Russell.

"You work all the hours God sends to make ends meet and stuff like this you cannot afford. I was due to start a job in Manchester and I had to turn it down - every power tool was taken and I'd just upgraded."

Russell says the attack on his van has made him paranoid of a further attempt.

"It's rife. Every day somebody has something done and the higher the security you put on them they just open them like a tin of beans, they are carving them up."

Russell is referring to the so-called 'peel and steal' style theft where they literally pull the top of the van's side door down to gain access.

Back in 2015 the T&A reported how officers were taking action following a rise in thefts of Ford Transits - 2010 models or onwards.

According to the T&A report, the majority of the thefts were keyless entry where an electronic device is used to read and mimic the signal sent by the remote or jam the vehicle's electronic security.

Electrician, Philip Bairstow, from Bradford, believes the locking system on his Mk 7 Ford Transit may have been intercepted.

Philip, who, as well as the manufacturers security system, fitted a secondary alarm and mechanical deadlocks after his van was previously broken into, explains after parking up and activating his alarm systems the secondary alarm wouldn't activate despite working fine before. Considering it could be the remote control battery, Philip activated the deadlocks and tried to activate the manufacturer's security system. Both activated, but suddenly the van unlocked without him pressing the remote controls and triggering the alarm.

"I switched the alarm off, reset it then re-armed it and this time it worked straight away," explains Philip, who hopes to warn over van owners to be aware.

Installing additional security systems such as steering wheel locks is also recommended.

A spokesman for Ford says it takes its vehicle security 'very seriously' and 'continuously invests in security measures that are integrated into our vehicles to deter theft.'

They say their security team routinely monitors and investigates new ways thieves are targeting their vehicles to maintain a high level of deterrence and are 'assessing the effectiveness of software, hardware and design counter-measures.'

The company is aware of the potential security risk to Transit and Transit Custom models, specifically around the key lock barrel and surrounding bezel, and is issuing an update to the lock mechanism software. It says details have also been provided to dealers in the UK and Ireland as part of a service action so that it can be retrofitted to customer vehicles.

Spencer Hargrave and Paul Butterfield set up Van & Tool Theft Awareness group (VATTA) on Facebook after their business vans were broken into. The group currently has more than 11,000 members.

Force Crime Prevention Officer Chris Joyce, says: “West Yorkshire Police understands the concerns of traders and has recently held a series of crime reduction events in Leeds to advise van drivers about vehicle security and protection of work equipment. There are plans to extend these events to other areas of West Yorkshire in the future.

“Latest figures show that thefts of vans rose slightly in West Yorkshire in the first two months of this year, with 118 crimes recorded compared to 112 in January and February last year. Our figures also show that crimes recorded where tools were taken from vans have also increased in West Yorkshire - with 61 more crimes recorded in the same period.

“As part of our ongoing work to tackle and prevent van crime we have also approached social media groups who are raising awareness of this as we are keen to work with them on future initiatives.

“Each district of West Yorkshire has its own Crime Prevention Team and we would urge van owners and traders to make contact with them so they can receive bespoke advice for their specific circumstances.

“Contact details for each team and more information on vehicle crime prevention can be found on the Advice pages at www.westyorkshire.police.uk."