{"id":2731,"date":"2024-01-26T15:22:13","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T15:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmaclaims.co.uk\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2024-01-26T16:09:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T16:09:33","slug":"vehicle-theft-up-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmaclaims.co.uk\/vehicle-theft-up-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Vehicle Theft Up 8%"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"According to the ONS\u2019s latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) data<\/a>, published on Thursday 25 January 2024, instances of \u201ctheft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle\u201d increased from 122,423 in the year October 2021 to September 2022, to 132,489 in the year October 2022 to September 2023. This represents an 8% year-on-year increase<\/strong> and a 17% increase on the pre-pandemic year to March 2020.<\/p>\n

Catherine Grant, Lead Analyst at the ONS, identified the rise in car thefts as one of the standout trends, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a mixed picture of crime across England and Wales, with some offences on the decline and some on the rise. The crime survey is showing a decline in fraud compared with the previous year. <\/em><\/p>\n

However, police recorded crime is showing notable increases in some theft offences, including shoplifting. There has also been an increase in the theft of motor vehicles<\/strong>, which is shown in both survey and police recorded crime data<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CMA’s Technical Director Philip Swift said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives me no pleasure to say it, but the only unexpected thing about these figures is that the increase is not higher. We have waved the white flag on vehicle theft and can only hope that these awful new government figures prompt some urgently needed action. <\/em><\/p>\n

We enjoyed historically low levels of vehicle thefts in England and Wales for a while \u2013 from a high of around 400,000 a year in the 1990s (during the so-called joyriding epidemic) down to only 70,000 in 2013\/14. Car manufacturers did an amazing job improving security, largely designing out opportunist thefts. Then, theft numbers began creeping back up, as organised criminals took advantage of high vehicle values and a seeming inattention to the crime. Today, post-pandemic, the picture is getting substantially worse year-on-year.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this context, our recent findings regarding the Vehicle Theft Taskforce (VTT) \u2013 obtained via a Freedom of Information (FoI) request \u2013 are even more damning. <\/em><\/p>\n

By 2019, car theft numbers were well over 100,000 a year again. Industry and consumer concern was mounting, so the Home Office established the VTT. It was attended by representatives from the Home Office and the Department for Transport, motor and insurance industry groups, and someone from the Office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, which claimed to be \u2018spearheading\u2019<\/a> the initiative. A lot of the right people were there. They :<\/em><\/p>\n