POLICE officers from Northumbria and Durham have been able to recover two vans towing diggers thanks to the use of trackers and a specialist app.

The app What3Words is a tool used to communicate precise location, and is being used by emergency services to help with investigations such as locating missing people, helping those lost and injured and recovering stolen items.

Two Mercedes Sprinter vans, which were both fitted with tracking devices, were towing mini diggers and taken from the Durham area.

Officers from both Northumbria Police and Durham Constabulary were alerted and worked together to track down the vehicles, one of which was located in Sunderland and the other in Morpeth.

Both have now been returned to their rightful owners.

Neighbourhood Sergeant Alan Bogle, from Northumbria Police, said: “Tracking devices are an incredibly useful tool against theft and are highly recommended by officers, they have proved vital time and time again in tracking down stolen items.

“Then with the addition of What3Words it is becoming easier to quickly communicate a precise location once it has been identified – especially in our more rural areas where not all roads are named or fields and parks can go on for miles.

“With What3Words you can share locations between other users, or if calling an incident into us you can inform our communications staff of the three words to help us locate the incident quicker and more accurately.

“It provides a great platform for partnership working and adds another police tactic to help victims and brings offenders before the court.

“Both tracking devices and What3Words have huge benefits for emergency services and this case shows just how useful they can be.”