The East Yorkshire city held its spot at the top of a motor theft index compiled by Endsleigh insurers for the second year running. Nottingham, Bradford, Manchester and Doncaster completed the five worst spots for motorists looking to avoid thieves. At the other end of the scale Swindon was named as the safest place, with the fewest reports of thefts of vehicles or their contents. The results came against a background of falling car crime, with Government figures revealing offences fell by around a fifth over the past year. They were collected by analysing motor claims over the last three years from tens of thousands of insurance policyholders across Britain. Stuart Wartalski, of Endsleigh, said the risk of theft is particularly high after Christmas when vehicles are targeted for satnavs, DVDs, laptops and cameras. He said motorists should always keep valuables out of sight, fit their vehicle with an alarm and immobiliser and park in well-lit places. More
(AD Suggests ~ More comforting though, for those in the safest areas top 10.)

Vehicles worth £13m have been stolen as a result of the loss of thousands of blank DVLA log books, a BBC investigation has found. The police say they could be dealing with the impact of the blunder for over a century. Criminal gangs use the stolen vehicle registration documents to sell cloned cars on the private market. The DVLA says it is a criminal activity outside of its control and it is working with the police to stop it. Car cloning is the vehicle equivalent of identity theft. Gangs copy the number plate and other identifying details of a legitimate car onto a similar, but stolen clone. They also copy the genuine vehicle’s log book – or V5 form – by using one of thousands of blank DVLA documents that went missing some time in 2006. “We’re recovering about ten a week and we think there’s easily over 120 to 130,000 stolen blank documents out there still,” DCI Mark Hooper from the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (Acpo) vehicle crime intelligence service, told BBC 5 live’s Donal MacIntyre programme. More
(AD Comments ~ Perhaps the DVLA, could do more to help. Why not revise and changethe log book and send out to car owners, all the stolen documents would be instantly outdated)

Your car may be more eye-catching to criminals than you think. According to the Association of Chief Police Officers Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS), the Ford Transit van is the vehicle most targeted by thieves. Hot on its heels is the Ford Fiesta, closely followed by the Vauxhall Astra and Vauxhall Corsa, which represent some of the most popular vehicles on the road. “Due to the sheer number of these vehicles and the huge market for stolen parts, these cars are very popular with criminals,” said Detective Chief Inspector Mark Hooper, Head of AVCIS. “We are finding that vehicles registered in the late 1990s and early 2000s are among those most desired. The vehicles are stripped for parts, which are sold on the internet before the larger components are sold as scrap metal.” Regionally, you are even more likely to be a victim of car crime if you live in Chislehurst (south-east London), Wingate (Durham), Redbridge (east London) or Hatfield (Doncaster), which were named as the UK’s top four car crime hotspots. Across the UK, an astonishing 40% of UK drivers have been a victim of car crime, and with only a 51% chance of recovering a stolen vehicle, drivers need to know whether they are at high risk and how to protect their property. More
(AD Remarks ~ We must all be careful and make our vehicles as sure as possible)

A poll of 3,000 motorists by Admiral found that an increasing number of people were taking car theft less seriously than in previous years, with 73% admitting to leaving desirable items on display in their cars compared with only 71% last year. The changing nature of car crime has also been reflected in the figures, with 39% of motorists admitting that they hide their keys at night or when they leave the house without their car, to counter the threat posed by thieves who are going to greater lengths to steal car keys from homes. More
(AD Remarks ~ We all need to keep our gadget and other items of value away from the peering eyes of potential theives. )

Criminal gangs staging bogus crashes are cheating insurance companies out of more than £350 million every year, police said. Detectives fear so-called “crash for cash” cons are becoming more common and sophisticated as crooks exploit lucrative scams carrying little risk. The Metropolitan Police has set up a specialist unit, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, to tackle the problem. Investigators are targeting fraudsters who spark collisions with innocent motorists as the first step in ripping off insurers. They then cash in by billing companies up to £50,000 for bogus courtesy car hire, vehicle storage, personal injury claims and legal fees. Det Ch Ins Nick Chalmers, of the force’s traffic crime unit, said it is only a matter of time before someone is killed in a staged crash. He added a recent report by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) suggested the cost of similar scams could be £350 million every year. More
(AD Suggests ~ There are so many dodgy scams areound these days, and this is another. Shows that we must always be cautious on the road, as safety is at risk as well as no claims bonus)

This week’s ITV UK Car Crime programme shockingly revealed that one car is stolen every five minutes, highlighting that more people are at risk of buying a stolen car than ever before. The leading vehicle information expert, HPI, stresses that all used car buyers need to take a few simple but effective steps to help beat the car criminals. “Last year, 14,000 vehicles were stolen in Greater Manchester alone, which illustrates just how serious the problem is,” explains Nicola Johnson, Consumer Services Manager. “The problem continues as car criminals continue to employ a variety of dirty tricks, such as car cloning, to fool innocent purchasers into buying a stolen car. Car cloning is the vehicle equivalent of identity fraud where the stolen vehicle is fraudulently disguised as a similar vehicle already on the road. “If you buy a cloned or stolen vehicle you stand to lose the car and the money you paid for it, as the vehicle will always be returned to its rightful owner. Consumers should recognise the risks and use every tool available to them to help combat the vehicle fraudsters. By conducting a vehicle history check and proceeding with caution, car buyers can uncover a fake and walk away unscathed.” More
(AD Comment ~ Just shows what a problem with car crime we have, especially when car manufactors go to great lengths to make cars as secure as possible)