Analysis reveals more than one in 10 horseboxes for sale on online marketplaces are stolen property

The TER database includes 1.85 million items, of which 850,000 are trailers including 250,000 horseboxes.

TER checked 650 horseboxes that were being offered for sale on online marketplaces, including Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree over a four-week period. Its analysis uncovered 71 trailers that had been registered as stolen or where the trade was red flagged as “suspect”.

Reasons for highlighting a trade as being irregular include a missing or tampered serial plates or a seller who will not provide the serial number or other documentation with proof of ownership, when requested.

TER’s findings support data from the NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report, which found that the cost of rural crime rose increased by 4.3% year-on-year in 2023, reaching a total estimate of £52.8 million.

Online marketplaces are a convenient and efficient platform for buying and selling a wide range of goods, including horseboxes.

However, this convenience also makes them an attractive avenue for the trade of stolen goods.

The anonymity offered by these platforms allows criminals to list stolen horseboxes with minimal risk of detection.

Sellers can easily create fake profiles, use untraceable contact information, and quickly delete listings once a sale is made, making it difficult for authorities to track down the perpetrators.

Treve Jenkyn, the data director at TER, said: “Thieves are using ever more sophisticated technologies such as drones and trackers to identify trailers to steal, even when they are supposedly stored securely on a farm’s premises. As our analysis has shown, once items have been stolen criminals often turn to online trading sites such as Facebook Marketplace and eBay to sell them on to unsuspecting buyers.”

As well as taking sensible precautions to protect their trailers, owners can register up to five trailers pre-loss for free on TER’s website.

“Buyers, dealers and auction houses, as well as the police and insurance companies check with TER the criminal status of trailers that come their way,” saidJenkyn.

“So registering a vehicle can help to reunite stolen goods with their owners much more quickly.”

Valerie Isted, who owns Equinity Trailers, has a fleet of 60 Ifor Williams horseboxes for short- and long-term hires and has experienced first-hand how The Equipment Register helped with the recovery of one of their horseboxes that was stolen and subsequently listed for sale on an online platform.

Valerie explained: “We have registered all of our horseboxes with The Equipment Register and this action has thwarted the theft of two of our trailers. Every time someone runs a check against one of our horseboxes, The Equipment Register contacts ourselves as the registered owners to let us know. On one recent occasion we were alerted to a check on one of our Ifor Williams horseboxes that was being advertised for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Blackpool, some 300 miles away. Although the thieves had caused some damage to the trailer’s chassis, we were delighted to be able to recover our property and prevent it being sold on.

“The service we have received from The Equipment Register is outstanding. Rural crime is on the rise, and it is essential that any would-be purchaser looking to buy a horsebox checks The Equipment Register’s database to ensure that the trailer is not stolen. We would also recommend that horsebox owners make sure they have their trailer registered pre-loss to maximise the chances of its recovery post theft.”