Residents of a major UK region have been warned of an increase in thieves stripping cars for parts as Ford Fiesta thefts rise.
According to Detective Jim Munroe, head of the West Midlands Police’s Vehicle Crime Taskforce (VCT), the Russian invasion of Ukraine and pandemic-related supply problems have led criminals to monetize rising demand.
Neighborhoods in the city of Birmingham have become targets for brutal thieves who strip parts from vehicles, and people who have parked at train stations or park and rides in the Midlands have also been attacked.
And according to data released this year, the car with the most cars in Britain is also the most stolen – with Ford Fiesta thefts increasing by 53 per cent by 2022 as the cost of Fiesta parts could rise due to recent announcements from the automaker.
Mr Munroe said there has been an increase in vehicle crime, particularly motor vehicle theft, over the past 12 to 24 months.
He continued to say he believes this is due to parts shortages, post-Covid supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine.
Locals living in the apartment blocks of Pope Street, The Kettleworks and Albion House regularly find their vehicles decimated
Residents fear car crime is ‘rising again’ in Birmingham’s Jewelery Quarter after routinely finding their cars shredded and broken into
An estimated £14 million worth of vehicles and parts were recovered in 2022 as part of Essex’s Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit (SVIU). Many of the cars were ‘stolen to order’ and destined for foreign countries to be sold at high prices
The Ford Fiesta was the most stolen car in Britain last year by volume. It’s the most common model on the road, but data shows thefts are up a whopping 53% year-over-year
According to Mr. Munroe, this increase in car crime has been caused by the growing demand for spare parts.
Factory closures around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic led to shortages of semiconductor chips and other components in countries like the UK.
And West Midlands Police’s specialist Vehicle Crime Task Force has said that since its launch in September they have ‘made more than 100 arrests and recovered dozens of stolen vehicles’.
In a statement they said: ‘In January we received nine reports of cars being stripped of parts in car parks around the city centre, most of them in Digbeth.
Patrols in problem areas have been intensified and we are working closely with partner organizations to ensure car parks are safe.
“We regularly review CCTV in Digbeth and other parts of the city center to collect information on suspects and cars believed to be involved in car stripping and theft of car parts.”
A car owner struggled to recognize his own car after thieves stripped the exterior in the dead of night – heartbroken to discover his Peugeot 208 had been targeted by thugs in Harborne
Members of a Birmingham gang have been convicted of running one of the country’s largest car choppers – after West Midlands police linked them to more than 100 stolen vehicles worth more than £1 million
Police continued: “Several arrests have been made in recent months, including the arrest of a 20-year-old man who was arrested and charged with 11 counts of conspiracy to steal motor vehicles.
“We do not underestimate the impact of this crime on people’s lives and are working hard to bring these perpetrators to justice. We know the immense inconvenience of vehicle crime to your livelihood and personal lives, which is why we are determined to take this action.
“With the support of the public, we can continue to tackle car crime and close chain stores that serve as markets for car thieves.”
Wrecked victims of vehicles such as Citroens, Toyotas, Peugeots have received hundreds of pounds out of pocket after finding their cars destroyed and stripped bare.
Figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) show 5,979 Fiestas reported stolen in 2022, compared to 3,909 in 2021. This means a criminal makes one every 88 minutes on average.
With 1.5 million registered Fiestas on the road, experts have warned they could be at greater risk after Ford announced it would stop producing them last year.
This could increase the cost of Fiesta parts.
This comes following CCTV footage released this month showing brazen thieves using a transmitter device to unlock Ford Fiestas at train stations.
These new figures also suggest that thieves continue to target high-end and family cars.
And motorists in the region who want to avoid falling victim to this are now being urged to focus on where they park their vehicles.
While a common pattern has been observed in the West Midlands region, parts theft is on the rise in the UK.
Some 88,915 vehicle thefts during the 12 months to March 7, 2022 were recorded by the 34 police departments who provided full figures in response to freedom of information requests from the PA news agency.
Data published last year also showed that six police forces recorded an increase in car thefts, compared to the same period two years earlier.
They were South Yorkshire (+28%), City of London (+25%), West Midlands (+19%), Surrey (+12%), Merseyside (+4%) and Greater Manchester (+1%).
And this year looks no better as reports of cars being shredded and dismantled are on the rise.
Recent car crime across Britain has resulted in victims paying thousands to repair their vehicles after having their bonnets and headlights stripped or their windows smashed.
Recently, a number of chop shops – locations where stolen vehicles are dismantled – have been tracked down and decommissioned.
This month, police discovered a pork chop at Retford business park, Lincolnshire.
Three men have been charged after police raided the park and found a number of stripped-down vans and car parts believed to have been stolen.
Also in March, two thieves were convicted of stealing 59 Ford Fiestas worth more than £366,000 in just five months.
Kaine Guest-Scott, 22, and Theon Lynch, 21, targeted places where commuters often left their vehicles on their way to work.
The brutal thieves used transmitters to unlock the cars – registered between 2012 and 2017 – without setting off the alarm.
The criminals then broke steering wheel locks with angle grinders and reprogrammed blank keys before fleeing the various scenes.
At Birmingham Crown Court, Guest-Scott was sentenced to four years in prison, while Lynch will serve three years and one month.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on it, we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and use it for free. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to compromise our editorial independence.