13/07/2008 by admin.

Time and time again prospective clients ring the Trident Investigations office wanting a quote for surveillance without really giving it a thought as to what they really want to achieve.

Surveillance isn’t the answer to every problem. People are naturally guarded when they call us, male clients can be very protective and female clients can be very emotional. Both of these responses are understandable. These are often sensitive enquiries which can easily trigger some emotion. But before we can respond we do need to ask a few questions.

Surveillance is an “art”, it is not for everyone and the key to good surveillance is discretion, this is why that on most surveillance operations we recommend that more than one person is used.

We do not sit in the open, blatantly obvious with a long lens camera, nor do we hide in hedges and trespass on to the neighbours property in search of a good camera position, we are not the paparazzi!

But when you call any Detective Agency you need to be clear on what you want to achieve and there is often more than one way to skin a cat!

For Example

When you walk in to a Main Dealer to buy a car, you have and idea of the car you want, be-it a two seater coupe with a convertible roof or a family MPV with nine seats and a DVD player. You want less than 50,000 miles a full service history and no older the XX years old. You have £XXXXX to spend and not a penny more. That’s what you want.

When you think you want surveillance, you will also have a similar idea in you head. You will know who you want watched, why you want them watched, and where you want them watched (there will aways be a start point). You will know how long you need them watched for 4hrs, 8hrs, 24hrs etc. you will also know or have a good idea if they will be mobile (in a vehicle), on foot, or static (at an address). This is the information we need before we can even contemplate giving you a quotation.

In some cases you might think you need surveillance, but what you want is something else entirely. Call us FREE on 0800 756 6872 to discuss your problem in complete confidence. You can be sure of one thing, and that is we will have heard it before!

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26/03/2008 by admin.

We were recently appointed to undertake surveillance regarding a personal injury claim. The claimant alleges that four years ago that he fell from a ladder and injured himself so badly that he could not work and hadn’t done so since the accident. (for four years!)

This despite the fact that his own doctor and an independant specialist had confirmed that his injuries amounted to light bruising and he should have been back to work inside three months on a worst case scenario.

Despite this the claimant had stuck to his story and built his case for compensation.

His story was full of inconsistencies, for a start the incident was witnessed. the claimant who was employed as a Meter Reader had entered a loft to read the gas meter in a restaurant. He claims he fell 15 feet to the ground.

The maximum height that it was possible to fall is 7 feet. He claims that the ladder collapsed. It didn’t, and is in fact it is still in regular use.

From witness testimony it is confirmed that the guy did fall, but from about the third rung up, but square on to his feet. The claimant put on a show as if something really tragic had happened. Nonetheless and ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital.

The claimant appointed a lawyer and quantified his losses at £218,000. This was made up of lost earnings, lost future earnings, pension contributions and future care costs.

As the surveillance operation was put together a intelligence gathering exercise was called for to see what, if anything this guy does on a regular basis. It quickly became apparent that at 0730 am every day that he drives his son to the station. This despite the fact that he can not drive and needs constant care.

Our motorcycle surveillance operative followed the claimant and plotted his routine and filmed him from a mobile camera kit. This was for intelligence purposes only.

Over the coming days, thanks to the intelligence gathered we were able to site surveillance operatives and photograph him doing what had stated on oath that he could not do.

The crunch came when a surveillance van was parked in his street. It captured our man loading his car with not one, not two but three sizable suitcases. these were first carried out by his wife and daughter as they were so heavy. They were stacked at the rear of his car and left for him to load.

Our man picks up the cases with ease despite claiming not being able to use the left side of his body for anything strenuous. He wrestles with the bags demonstrating a full range of movement even holding a heavy flight bag in the crook of his left arm whilst he lays flat the rears seats of the car with the other hand.

The incident was filmed and photographed in finite detail and presented to the lawyers. With one saying “it’s not much of a show stopper is it?”

Well in terms of surveillance it was. More often than not in these types of cases it is very difficult to capture anything useful. You might if you’re lucky get your target mowing the lawn or washing his car, but a 6 minute film of a supposedly paralyzed man wrestling with baggage and driving to the airport doesn’t happen very often. It was an Oscar winning performance.

The day in court has now passed, did our man win his £218,000?

What do you think?!

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