A car is stolen every 5 minutes in the UK – here are the country’s theft hot spots Car thefts soar 45% in five years

Car thefts have soar by almost 50 per cent in the last five years, with a car being stolen every five minutes, according to new figures.

Data from police forces around the UK reveals there has been a 45 per cent rise in reported thefts since 2014, before which there had been a six-year decline in crimes.

In 2017/18 alone, 112,174 vehicles were stolen – equivalent to 307 each day.

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Rapid rise

The figures were obtained from forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by insurer Direct Line.

It then used its own claims data to identify the country’s car theft hot spots.

According to Direct Line’s claims information, English regions are driving the increase. The West Midlands has seen the number of stolen vehicles triple in the last five years, making it the fastest-growing region for car crime, and the North-West and North East and Yorkshire also saw rates more than double from 2014 to 2018.

However, London remains the UK’s worst overall spot for thefts, with around 33 claims for every 10,000 registered on the road – a 61 per cent rise on 2013/14.

Conversely, in Scotland claims for car theft have fallen 23 per cent over the same period, while in Northern Ireland they have remained static.

Change in volume of car theft claims, 2014 to 2018 Region Change Claims per 10,000

registered vehicles West Midlands +214% 16 North West +110% 17 North East & Yorkshire +104% 5 Greater London +61% 33 East Midlands +60% 8 East of England +48% 7 South West +43% 4 South East +29% 4 Wales +29% 4 Northern Ireland 0% 1 Scotland -23% 10

The Direct Line figures come after the Association of British Insurers revealed its members had settled 16,000 claims for car theft-related crimes between January and March this year.

It said that the rise of keyless entry systems and their vulnerability to relay attacks was at least partly behind payouts reaching a seven-year high.

Capital crime

According to Direct Line’s data, five London postcodes appear in the top ten for the highest number of vehicle theft claims over the past five years: E4 (Chingford), E6 (East Ham), E17 (Walthamstow), E11 (Leytonstone and Wanstead) and IG1 (Ilford).

Birmingham has four postcodes in the top ten (B31, B90, B62 and B13), while Manchester has one – the M20 area – although it experienced the highest number of car theft claims in the UK over the five-year period.

Steve Barrett, head of car insurance at Direct Line, commented: “With an alarming increase in the number of cars stolen over the last five years it is more important than ever to do all we can to prevent cars from being stolen.

“Using a combination of measures such as parking in a well-lit area or through security features such as steering wheel locks, or by ensuring that the car alarm system is fully activated by double locking the vehicle could help make it as difficult as possible for a thief and may help buy time for the alarm to be raised in case a theft is in progress.”