R@pe alarm.
My ex company gave us all PIR intruder devices that went off with loud shrieking noise if any movement was detected inside the trailer or if the back doors got opened, we put some on the back of the cab to deter fuel thieves.
The trailer curtains were made with a strong wire to prevent the curtain slashing brigade making peep holes.
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Halfsize baseball bats are ideal for tyre checks, ergo a legitimate tool. Of course they are stored in the cab, as they are used every time you stop.
If you are in a position where you need to defend yourself, donât aim for the head and risk a charge of manslaughter, go for the collarbone, it hurts like hell, disables the ar5ewipe and forces them to seek medical attention. That also makes them easier to find and prosecute.
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Blimey, what a world I escaped from by deciding to retire early at the end of 2002. With small breaks now and again to do other things (12 months on the ocean wave for instance), in 40 years on the road I never had any need for offensive weapons of any sort. The nearest I came to crime was paying Liverpool urchins protection money when faced with the whiny comment âhalf a crown to look after your wagon mister?â. And much the same in Glasgow.
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@spardo Itâs been a while since youâve been to western Sydney or southeastern Melbourne though. Both places are dangerous at times and a good place to play spot the Aussie.
I sometimes think we should have kept the White Australia Policy, Poms made a much better class of import.
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Well some of us did at least. 
Melbourne was a nono for me since that one visit on my way from the NT when I turned a corner and was cut in half by an Antarctic wind. Never went again. Whoops, yes I did, with a mate from the cabs whose parents lived there. Very posh they were and he was worried because I refused to shave my beard, and wear a tie. 
Western Sydney? Iâm guessing you donât mean as far as Liverpool? The 2nd time (of 3) that I lived in Sydney it was in Newtown which was almost all Italian and Greek populated. Never had any problems with them and apart from the Palestinian and his mate that owned the cafe where I lived who were no trouble at all, I donât remember any other âNew Australiansâ as they were called in those days.
I have one of those red paint sprays mentioned above.Perfectly legal and a surprise for any intruder.
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But do you really want it all over the inside of your cab? 
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A mate of mine was hi-jacked in the South of Italy.
The short version starts âA car pulled in front of me, two guns come out the side windows, one pointing at my tyres. one ponting at my windscreenâ
I asked âWhat did you do?â
He looked at me like I was daft (quite rightly too) and said
âI stoppedâ.
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I would hope to see the threat coming and spray outside through the window while reaching for one of a selection of iron bars close to the driverâs seat.
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Sign of the times pal. Englandâs lawless in my eyes. Survival of the fittest.
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I have no idea if itâs true or not,but the rumour mill was heard on most sea crossings on the ferries in the drivers lounge for the tale of UK trucks being hijacked in Southern Italy, one tale was the driver tied to tree and left there in his underpants and the lorry was gone to be emptied then abandoned.
I heard them saying they put ground glass in the eyes.
The factory that loaded the freight would then claim from the insurance for the theft of the load, but they organised the theft so had the original cargo back again at another site or factory to be sold again to the customer as an export load.
Double bubble.
Some drivers said they returned to Italy on holiday or driving commercially to see the lorry they used to drive that got stolen by identifying it by a unique detail such as a dent or scratch.
Tools are best but yeah I have heard truckers carry noise-maker tools with blank cartridges for Euro-truck work.
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The incident I know about was a load of TVs for Greece.
We shipped from Bari or Brindisi. The truck was running towards the dock early morning when the car overtook it etc. Two guys with guns got out and a third guy with nowt. The told our deriver to get in the back of the car and they squeezed in besides him. The other guy drove our RHD truck.
They put a hood over the head of our driver so they could take off their masks, and fastened his hands in front of him.
They drove off somewhere in the sticks, and all got out. Inside some sort of cottage or hut they put masks of some sort or balaclavas or ski-masks on again. I canât remember how long he said he was there but they fed him and played cards etc. I think it was a day or two?
Later they put his hood back on and told him they were taking him away and would release him.
Took him to a field and told him to lay down. I can only imagine how awful that must have beenâŠ
They said wait here for 5 mins then you can take the hood off and get help, go to the police etc. They said that his truck would be parked in a certain seervice area with his personal kit inside it.
He siad he waited 5 minutesâŠthen another 5 minutesâŠthen a bit longer⊠and did get the hood off and went to a road to wave a car down etc.
The Police came out, interviews etc etc, but there was little he could really say. Only the car colour and model and you can bet it was false plates etc. He told the police where hos truck was was they said " Nah, that is just so we waste our time looking". Anyway he flew back to the UK, and spoke to insurance etc etc.
.
It ainât over.
The company got an irate call from a service area in Italy asking âWhy has yoiur tractor unit been here a week?â
It still ainât over.
Later the trailer was recovered. That was abondoned in another service area.
It ainât over.
All the TVs except one were intact. Apparently the system in Greece and Italy is different and the TVs are not compatible.
The box trailer had the company name on, but that was overpainted with thick white emulsion paint so it looked like a plain fridge.
I know it sounds like a shaggy dog story. But that is as near as I remember the incident.
Mid 1990âs-ish?
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That may have been STS , Southampton Transport Services as they used metal or thin metal sided trailers for the tv contract, what you have said I have heard of it too, the people that did the hijacking try to avoid hurting or injuring the driver if they can help it, if a driver kicked off and resisted that may change to violence, if the gang did get caught, they would have ended up with longer prison sentences for assault and GBH.
Not STS that time, but it was STS that had all the Sony TV loads out of Bridgeend.
STS driver âAeroplane Kevinâ was hijacked near Lyon airport a bit later on. He was bundled into a car when asleep.
Another guy was hi-jacked near Rome. That is another story of a mes-up by the thieves. He ended up getting clobbered. No lasting damage, but hitting anyone over the head is clearly very risky.
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When loading shoes in the mountain areas in Northern Portugal that took days even though the freight agents told lies to say arrive at the factory at 07.00 am, your load is ready and they are waiting for you:Lie.
3 days later still there as about 100 under age female factory workers only started to make the shoes when I arrived.
It was then multiple collections of groupage from textiles or granite and marble, then on Friday night the big warehouses would shuffle around the load to put stuff from my trailer on to another trailer bound for another country then someone else who had done multiple collections would have his cargo trans-shipped on to my trailer.
By about 07.30 am on Saturday morning with no sleep as moving around different on to different bays all night or a side load, we would park up to get a few hours sleep before heading out of Porto towards the Spanish border before the truck bans kicked in for the Basque Country and in France, for the weekend driving bans.
Some of us woke up to the curtains cut open and shoes stolen, but someone in the know did know the exact position where the shoes were located and it wasnât just a random opportunistic robbery.
It was mostly shoes for Clarks in Street in Somerset or for Next in Ponterfract.
They started to load one trailer with left footed shoes and in a different trailer with right footed shoes so it was useless if they try to steal them as nobody would buy a one sided shoe at the market or car boot sales.
I remember the STS lads on the Pompey to Ouistreham ferry and on the âLove Boatâ Stena Line out of Southampton to Cherbourg and those 4 gorgeous French girls in the freight office, they certainly knew how to flirt and tease the drivers.
One was so stunning, big blue eyes, long brown hair called Anne Marie, the last time in Cherbourg I was told she owned a shop selling baby items a bit like Mothercare.
And those two crazy old men that served in the war in France to marry local lasses, who did the marshalling in the port, I think they either American or Canadian?
We will leave the story of Pinocchio the over zealous Gendarmerie motorcycle rider for another day, but just to say he had a hard on for drivers or a big chip on his shoulder to stand on top of the hill with binoculars to see the Brit and Irish drivers making the boat.
Did they serve in the war? I think they wetre too young for that?
âFrank The Yankâ did some C & W singing. The other marshal was also a really good guy, and he was a Canadian. Canât remember his name at the moment though.
Anne Marie? Or Marie-Noel? Big blue eyes for sure.
Sophie was in charge of the offce as I remember it.
I donât know about flirting..Avoiding slapping all those leering truck drivers around the chops might be a better description! 
Anna and Caroline in the bar? The new bar that is, when they opened that and closed the offices in the old TransAt terminal. Anna married an Irish driver I think. âŠThe ânewâ bar must be thirty year old now!
I met Pinnochio once.
Cost me 900FF.
Thatâs the one Frank the Yank and it was Marie NoĂ©l, and I remember Sophie, a very nice lady.