Vehicle parts theft on the rise

Criminals are stripping parked cars in the Midlands to cash in on spares shortage

- JOHN EVANS

Thieves who had been stealing high-value cars are now targeting and stripping smaller cars in a major region of the UK as demand for parts grows.

A dearth of spare parts, due to supply problems caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, has fuelled this, the head of West Midlands Police’s Vehicle Crime Taskforce (VCT) told Autocar.

In January alone, nine cars parked in the Birmingham area – including three Citroën C1s – were pillaged, with parts including body panels taken. At least three more cars had been targeted in the months leading up to Christmas.

Among the most recent victims was Samantha Rose, a nurse, whose Renault Clio’s bonnet, lights and other parts had been taken from outside her Selly Oak house in the early hours of 30 January. Two other cars had been targeted in the same area that night.

Many of Rose’s colleagues had also been victims.

She said: “It’s being done in broad daylight [in the hospital car park] while they’re doing a 13-hour shift. They’re coming out at night and their cars have been stripped.”

This surge in car crime has been brought on by the growing demand for spare parts, according to detective superintendent Jim Munroe.