Mafia-style gangs are stealing portaloos to make a splash online in UK shortage

Mafia-style crime gangs are stealing portable loos to flog on after a nationwide shortage sent prices soaring.

Organised mobs are swiping the mobile bogs en masse and selling them for more than £500 each. Earlier this month 40 new cubicles worth £40,000 went missing from a field set to hold a motorsport event in Pencombe, Herefordshire.

Neil Griffiths, 53, of Three Counties Toilet Hire, said: "It’s going to be almost impossible to get them back so I want to make these loos too hot to handle.'' Cheshire Police are probing a similar crime.

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And officers in Northamptonshire have warned owners and suppliers to leave identifiable marks on their loos to they can be returned if retrieved. A force spokesman said at the time: "The main thing is if we seize a portable loo that is great, but just saying it’s blue with a white top – you won’t be able to reconcile that back with the original owner.

"Having some kind of identification that is covertly inside it would be really helpful.''

Crooks use Ford Transits to drive them away. Portable lavs have been in high demand since Covid when vast numbers were hired out on long-term contracts leaving organised events and music festivals short. Schools closed due to crumbling concrete concerns desperately need more toilets for kids learning in temporary classrooms.

Experts said the industry is caught in a Catch-22 situation. The rarer portable toilets become the more they are worth making an attractive commodity for thieves. And the more that are stolen the harder they are to get hold of.

Some second-hand lavs have sold on sites like eBay and Gumtree for upwards of £500 – despite warnings they had been used on building sites. Welsh company City Loo Hire is advising event organisers to rent bogs far in advance so they are not caught short.

Its website states: "Not only are portable toilets essential at festivals but you should rent them as far in advance as possible. Festivals without appropriate toilets are destined for infamy. But this much is obvious. Less obvious though is how difficult it can be to hire portable toilets on short notice. The Covid crisis has prompted a serious shortage in portable toilets.

"The mass opening of vaccination centres and the implementation Covid regulations has seen huge amounts of portable toilets bought up or rented on long term contracts. Those that remain are rapidly snapped up by a demand that far outstrips supply.

"If you are planning a festival then make hiring portable toilets your number 1 priority, before you’re left in the number 2.''

Ex Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley said: "You might not believe it but this is organised crime at work. When demand increases on any commodity then criminals will find a way to steal it and make it more valuable. It's exactly the same with portable loos. The school crisis will lead to an increase in use and need and criminals will exploit that.

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"It doesn't matter what the product is they'll target it. They do not discriminate whether it's drugs, gold, jewellery or toilets. It's the way of the criminal world and it will not change anytime soon. As demand increases people will be less bothered about where they have come from as well as they just need more of them. And frankly how are they going to know?

"There would have been criminals mapping these plans out as soon as the situation with schools was announced. They are one step ahead. Advice around marking them is a good idea. They are valuable. Criminals also know there will be some building merchants or companies who will just take the hit.

"Nobody will think police are going to take the theft of portable loos seriously. But it would be a big financial hit for the companies concerned.''

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