Tailgating

What is tailgating?

Tailgating is a security breach where an unauthorised individual/vehicle gains access by following an authorised person/vehicle through a door, barrier, or gate without the proper credentials. This can be accidental or intentional.

Within a caravan storage context, tailgating is when a driver follows another vehicle too closely when entering or exiting an access point .

How does it happen?

• Exploiting Human Kindness: People naturally want to help, making it easy for unauthorised individuals to exploit this by "polite" requests or feigning being a contractor.
• Unintentional Security Gaps: An authorised employee might simply not notice someone behind them or allow a slow-closing door to open or a barrier safety loops to kick in whereby the gate or barrier will not shut due to safety fears.
• Deceptive Tactics: Individuals may pretend to be staff or cleaners, ask for access, or even spy on access codes

Someone tailgating may be a genuine customer just wanting to save time, but they could also be someone wanting to gain access to restricted areas to carry out criminal activity.

Risks of Tailgating

• Theft & Financial Losses
• Physical Damage
• Reputational Damage

What can you do about tailgating?

Whilst ‘no tailgating’ signs are often displayed, a criminal is unlikely to take notice of this, and so educating genuine customers why they shouldn’t let someone tailgate them is vitally important. They may think they are helping a fellow customer out, when in reality they’re assisting a criminal.

Technology

Physical barriers can be designed to allow only one person/vehicle through at a time, physically preventing tailgating.

Smart parking technology can identify people trying to enter your storage compound without permission. There are a variety of software-based solutions, including RFID (key fobs) and ANPR-based (license plate recognition) authentication systems.

This technology will not only improve safety but also increase efficiency by reducing the amount of time that you spend on supervising access points. They’ll also provide detailed analytics on who is coming in and out of your compound and how long they stay.

Customer Education

Raising awareness among customers about what tailgating is and how it can be avoided is vital.

The correct security protocol should be to wait for gates or barrier to close on entering and leaving the site, thereby blocking access and preventing anyone else following onto or off the site. For sites with manual gates, the same applies and the customer should ensure they lock the gates after entry and exit, without letting anyone else through.

Consider the following wording in any communications to your customers:

"By leaving the gate open for someone else or allowing someone to follow in on your entry fob, you may be allowing a thief to enter or exit. Please wait for the gate/barrier to close behind you and let only YOURSELF in and out."