Page 6 - VCT August 2021
P. 6
Vehicle crime in
the United
Kingdom
By Paul Harrison and Hannah Chowdhury
Vehicle crime in the UK has evolved.
Figure 3. Wrecked car burning out following joyriding in
Swansea, Wales.
(https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/12-year-
old-cushion-who-13005163)
This is now…
Today, fewer vehicles are stolen than in the
1990s. With that said, an article in The
st
Autocar (UK magazine, 31 March 2020)
stated, “Despite sophisticated anti-theft tech,
Figure 1. One of the darlings of the 1990s joyriding epidemic, vehicle thefts have risen by more than 50% in
a 1990 Vauxhall Astra GTE 16V. the past six years and they're still increasing.”
(https://www.autoglym.com/blog/2016/12/19/the-15-greatest-
vauxhall-road-and-race-cars/) Vehicles stolen today tend to be less than five
years old. What is telling, though, is the
That was then… average value of the vehicles is very much
higher than it was during the 1990s.
In the years up to the mid-1990s, a car
tended to be stolen to be used as the cheap Modern vehicles are much more secure than
ride home or used for joyriding. Media outlets those that were commonplace 25 years ago.
were full of stories of neighbourhoods under So Organised Crime Gangs (OCGs) now use
seige from this type of behaviour. specialised equipment, bought for only one
possible purpose.
Figure 4. Immobiliser defeat tool for sale for Eur 1,500. This
Figure 2. Post-joyriding high jinks in Dublin. tool has only one purpose.
(https://www.nomadicpress.org/interviews/rossmcdonnell) (https://www.chrisbypass.com/en/products/32-immo-all-in-
one-20.html)
The target vehicle was often a vehicle at least
ten years old. They were stolen in huge ‘Locksmithing’ equipment is used to
numbers, peaking around 620,000 cars per overcome vehicle manufacturers’ security
year in 1994. At this stage it was impossible systems, originally via the Onboard
to tell if there was insurance fraud involved as Diagnostic (OBD) port. This theft method
vehicle security was not robust and exact became popular in around 2010.
theft methods were unknown.
