It was during a visit to the De Beers mine - which Russell had managed when a twenty three year old geochemist graduate - when he heard about the widespread theft of diesel in the region.

He said:

I’d hired a truck and was travelling around with my son when we heard about the theft of diesel which was prevalent. Ironically people around the diamond mines weren’t stealing diamonds but were skimming off diesel from the trucks.

Richard, who had an early career in the truck industry, later confirmed that the volatile price of diesel, combined with dwindling worldwide supplies, meant that more publicity was focused on endemic fuel theft which was also a major problem in the UK costing businesses many millions of pounds a year.

Russell said:

The haulage sector is going through a very tough time at the moment and they need to protect every litre of fuel they buy. The odd 25 litres of fuel siphoned off here and there adds up and runs into several thousand pounds a year. With the current economic climate businesses simply cannot afford that sort of loss.

The brothers realised there was a real market opportunity if they could come up with a solution and were confident they could design and develop a market leading device to prevent fuel siphoning.

They set up TruckProtect and now three and a half years - and eighty prototypes later – their InstantFit NeckIT is the UK’s best selling anti fuel theft device. They are now selling 40,000 devices a year, their business plan is on target and TruckProtect turned over £2 million in 2008.  

A growing number of hauliers - like Owens of Llanelli with a fleet of 350 vehicles - have installed the device on all their trucks and lorries. Retailing at £70 businesses can quickly recoup the outlay.

Designed for light and heavy commercial vehicles the NeckIt unit is easily, quickly and securely fitted into the neck of fuel tanks, making siphoning impossible.

The development stage took some time because the device had to be able to accept 120 litres of fuel a minute from high speed pumps without causing any splashback.

The device also had to provide security right to the top of the tank but still enable Customs to take samples for analysis.

Truck Protect has developed a range of NeckIt devices to fit every make and model of commercial vehicle – including buses, coaches and municipals – in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia markets.

With the support of International Business Wales -  the Welsh Assembly Government’s international trade and investment arm - the device is now selling worldwide from Azerbaijan to Zambia.  

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, said successful entrepreneurs possessed the talent for spotting new opportunities - and the courage to back their hunch.

Russell and Richard Fowler have done exactly that.They saw a market opportunity to develop a niche product and now, with the support of the Assembly Government’s IBW team, they are exporting around the world.

Innovation is a vital ingredient for business success and of particular importance when competing globally in the current economic climate.

Russell said:

The help and support of IBW has been instrumental in our success in breaking into new markets. We now export to at least fifty countries and exports account for 70% of our sales.

IBW helped us with our initial research into the US market. Although fuel is much cheaper out there we discovered fuel theft is a big problem and there’s a massive potential market in the States.

Our first visit to the US two years ago with IBW was particularly useful as we met truck manufacturers and distributors and made genuine leads with Paccar, Freightliner and Volvo and have since won substantial contracts.

As a small company we wouldn’t have been able to afford the outlay to target the US market or attend key trade shows without IBW support.

IBW is helping us target China and we visited Shanghai and Beijing last year and are currently assessing the opportunities – this is again a massive market and we are now looking for agents.

The devices are already on sale in South Africa and the Middle East and other areas of high growth potential for TruckProtect include South America specifically Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and India.

The Company is also developing some exciting new products related to fuel improvement and complementary to their anti-fuel theft devices.

TruckProtect’s main base is in Newport where the research and development and production management is carried out, they have set up two companies in the USA and are developing a global network of agents and distributors.