Securicor is to invest £18m to counter the increasing number of robberies of Cash in Transit (CIT) couriers working for the leisure industry.

Attacks on CIT vehicles and couriers increased by 25 per cent during 2001, with November alone seeing a 47 per cent increase in attacks. Around a third involved firearms and a similar number involved violence against security crews.

Securicor aims to stem the dramatic rise in attacks by investing in the latest technology, which includes new vehicles using biometric technology, such as palm and iris recognition to restict access, and the latest smoke box technology to destroy the contents of cash boxes if tampered with.

This is a significant problem for the industry and appears to be getting worse, said Jeff Anderson, managing director of Securicor Cash Services UK. The fact is that the leisure sector and cash in transit operators need to work in partnership to reduce the risks we take.