Why do lorries park with their rear doors open?

Yes! The upshot is, the more money wasted in the conveyance of goods, the more the goods cost to convey. Guess who pays for all that. Correct, we do. That’s why you are right to feel annoyed at these entitled criminals. They reckon that these crimes are victimless, rubbish, we are all the victims.

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Mop_Jockey@reddit

Anytime someone says "but you/they are insured" I want to slap them.

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Mr_lovebucket@reddit

So would be thieves can see it’s empty

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Two_Flower_Nix@reddit (OP)

That was my original guess - but I’ve just seen a lorry parked and open with contents. Could it because they’re valueless?

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inquisitiveimpulses@reddit

Or to heavy to conveniently steal and/or fence.

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mattamz@reddit

It's probably that a tear in the curtain is more expensive than something been stolen or it's carrying something that can't be stolen easily.

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SpartanS034@reddit

it's carrying something that can't be stolen easily.

You mean like a tiger?

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V65Pilot@reddit

Lots of cheese.

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TPenny5071@reddit

Like rocks.

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Avenged8x@reddit

Jesus Christ Marie, they're not rocks. They're minerals!

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Ikilleddobby2@reddit

We've got a slash in the work van curtain, roughly the size of hand in straight line and quote was £400 to repair. Roll of black gaffa tape every other month is the repair.

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Eastern-Move549@reddit

If something needs a forklift to remove then it's worthless to some wood be thieves.

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SarkyMs@reddit

We lived in a rough area and we used to leave our car open because it was cheaper than replacing the locks.

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malcolmmonkey@reddit

I guarantee that would have been a load of empty pallets with packing material shells around them or just pallets of used cardboard or some equally valueless dunnage. OR, it was crates of Iphone 16 pros and the driver is playing us all.

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janusz0@reddit

If they were 16 Pro Maxes, I'd be there in a flash, but 16 Pros are so last week.

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Nooms88@reddit

Or too heavy to move without machinery. Yes there's stuff in here, but come back with a forklift if you want it, don't break my lock.

No idea, pure guess

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Eoin_McLove@reddit

I guess the contents are worth less than it would take to fix or replace the trailer?

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savagelysideways101@reddit

This is the case, especially if its a curtain side

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Martipar@reddit

I've heard this but it makes little sense to me. Imagine I have a deck of cards, i place them all face down and you have to pick a picture card (representing a lorry with valuable goods) you have 5 attempts.

Now lets turn all the non-picture cards face up (representing empty lorries with their doors open), you have 5 attempts to pick up a picture card. How well do you think you will do the second time around?

Basically it's a lot easier for thieves to identify lorries with stuff in them if the doors are open on the empty ones. It takes time to park up, get out, quietly approach a lorry, enter it in silence and look around. It doesn't take much time to see open doors and drive on to the next area where a likely target will be parked up.

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Brexit-Broke-Britain@reddit

Drivers with valuable loads will not park up in insecure locations or will be able to finish the drive within the regulated hours.

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NotAlanPorte@reddit

Unsure why this makes little sense to you as I'd submit your analogy likely falls short on a key point - a deck of cards belong to a single stack, and you're applying the rules of your game consistently to every card in that pack.

Lorries don't belong to the same pack or set or club, each lorry encounter is (largely at least) an independent encounter. And there's no assumption they're all playing by the same ruleset that your cards are. Sure any driver who has opened the door is - but you can't logically conclude any driver who hasn't opened the door is. They may have valuables - or may not care to open an empty lorry up.

The lorry drivers aren't working together as a coordinated collective, it's simply to reduce the likelihood of their specific lorry being targeted Vs the herd.

On a similar vein I use a steering lock on my car. The amount of people who say "that's pointless, a thief can get through that" are missing the purpose. If a thief really wants my car, then ultimately they're taking my car and I'm screwed. The steering lock is to shift the odds of a thief who opportunistically wants a car quickly. That thief will move on and find a car without a lock that's quicker/easier to nick

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elkwaffle@reddit

Its self preservation, making the one with the doors open no longer of a target. Someone's getting broken into, better you than me

It's the same theory as you don't have to be faster then the bear, you just have to be faster than the slowest person

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SlightlyFarcical@reddit

I knew someone who was caught out by such a lorry that had its back doors open with some boxes inside but it was bait lorry and him andhis friend got nicked.

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JamieBatch@reddit

Lots of comments about the trailer not being damaged, but there is also the driver safety aspect.

Don’t need to wake up and threaten the driver for access if the door is already open. The drivers safety is more important than any load that may be on there.

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SmegmaSandwich69420@reddit

How else would the immigrants get out?

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notThaTblondie@reddit

If it's a curtain side trailer they can easily be cut open to steal the contents so they leave the back doors open to save having the curtains slashed open.

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f8rter@reddit

To stop illegals immigrants getting on board and to show the trailer is empty

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Dans77b@reddit

Why would illegal immigrants climb in a lorry in Morecambe?

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Martipar@reddit

Clearly you've not been to Morecambe, many people would happily hide in a lorry in an attempt to leave.

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f8rter@reddit

See “to show the trailer is empty”

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DaveBeBad@reddit

Maybe not illegal immigrants, but homeless people could secrete themselves in the back of a lorry and be unwanted passengers…

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Dans77b@reddit

Unlikely, but regardless, the reason drivers do it is to prevent theft.

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Bruh-4-mp3@reddit

So they can leave?

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EpochRaine@reddit

The lucky bastard's!

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BuildingArmor@reddit

It takes a simple Stanley knife to the side curtains for somebody to get in and take a look, so they aren't keeping the goods inside safe from a thief.

However, that Stanley knife can do thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Leaving it open means you only need to replace the stolen goods, and not the side curtains too.

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Beanruz@reddit

So people don't cut the sides to try see in/see what's inside. Esp3cislly if its empty or worthless to people.

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themcsame@reddit

To prevent damage to the trailers.

If a thief wants to look in your trailer, they're taking a look regardless of whether the back door is open or not. If it ain't open, they're forcing it open (this is often why you might see curtain-side trailers with slashes in the curtain).

Dealing with insurance for the loss of stolen goods is cheaper than taking a trailer off the road for repairs, only to have it damaged again shortly after.

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-myeyeshaveseenyou-@reddit

Does insurance pay out if the truck is open? Only asking as my sister had jewellery stolen from a car before and despite the car being locked the fact it was in plain sight and not in her boot or glovebox was enough for the insurance not to pay. This is several years ago and in Ireland but I’m just curious

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themcsame@reddit

With the right level of cover, I don't see why not. Quite honestly, they probably have a separate policy for the loss of goods anyway.

Though, quite frankly, anyone can walk up to a curtainsider and undo the curtain straps. They're not exactly secured like a locked car. Slashing is largely only done because it's quicker and quieter. So the insurers probably already have the risk calculated in the cost anyway

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-myeyeshaveseenyou-@reddit

Thank you for the explanation, hadn’t thought of it all that way. Makes sense to factor in losses

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MrNippyNippy@reddit

The answer is to show thieves it’s empty as many have said.

The REAL answer is it was started by someone at Eddie Stobbart who REALLY doesn’t like bart!

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Zippyversion1@reddit

I had to Google this and hung my head in German.

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MrNippyNippy@reddit

I have to be honest and admit I’m not that smart. It literally just looks like “die bart” when they open the left door.

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MJLDat@reddit

Was Sideshow Bob hiding under the truck? Leave out some rakes to trap him.

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Bruh-4-mp3@reddit

Curtain sided trailers offer little to no security for the transport of goods.

most trailers parked overnight will at some point be targeted by thieves with Stanley knives, who will cut into the curtain to see if any valuables are on board.

Leaving your rear door open lowers the risk of having your curtain slashed, but then again, I've had mine cut with the door open before( criminals aren't the brightest)

It costs around £25 to have a slash repaired on a curtain. Which soon adds up

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Kcufasu@reddit

Probably to unload stuff Barry

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bobmanuk@reddit

because how can you say it fell off the back of a lorry if the doors are well and truly bolted shut?

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Two_Flower_Nix@reddit (OP)

This is my favourite answer

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ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

OP or a mod marked this as the best answer, given by /u/Mop_Jockey.

So people don't break into them only to realise it's empty.

^(What is this?)

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LazyEmu5073@reddit

rear doors open, but it looked to have things inside.

Driver is showing it's basically worthless shit(to a thief), rather than pallets of new TVs/laptops/tools/etc.

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