House of Commons - Public Accounts

Select Committee on Public Accounts Sixteenth Report

1 MAKING VEHICLE CRIME MORE DIFFICULT

1. The Home Office looks set to meet its five year target of a 30% reduction in the number of thefts of and from vehicles since 1999 when the data to the end of 2004 becomes available in summer 2005. This likely success was based on data from the British Crime Survey, which the Home Office considered to be more accurate than police recorded crime statistics that suggested a lower reduction. The overall level of vehicle crime in England and Wales remains high, with an estimated 2.1 million thefts of and from vehicles based on the Home Office's British Crime Survey for 2003-04. Police records of vehicle crime indicated that the rates were particularly high in some areas of England and Wales (Figure 2). The Home Office Public Service Agreement target to reduce thefts of and from motor vehicles (including attempts) excluded cases of vandalism to vehicles, of which there were 1.4 million such incidents in 2003-04. Vandalism can also be distressing and inconvenient to the vehicle owner.[1]

2. The Home Office had worked closely with manufacturers and the insurance industry to improve vehicle security through features such as immobilisers, volumetric sensors and deadlocking being fitted as standard. Further progress will be dependent on manufacturers' commitment. The Home Office believed that for many customers security was as important as the look and performance of a vehicle. Newer cars were stolen less frequently than older cars, but not necessarily because of better security. Older cars tended to be parked on roads in areas which experienced higher crime levels overall. The Home Office did not believe there was a limit on the ability of manufacturers to make cars more secure as technology was always improving. The Department was, for example, encouraging the industry to adopt technology known as the Thatcham Category 5 which allows the engine of a stolen car to be immobilised automatically once it has stopped.[2]

3. The Home Office acknowledged that the government could decide to take powers to impose requirements on the industry but operating on a voluntary basis was the approach taken currently. This approach was proving successful in the Home Office's view as evidenced by the profile given to security and safety features in manufacturers' brochures.[3]

Figure 2: Thefts of and from vehicles per 1,000 population in 2003-04 by police force

Police force area	Thefts of and from vehicles per 1,000 population in 2003/04	Rating
Nottinghamshire	28	red
West Yorkshire	27	red
Humberside	25	red
Greater Manchester	24	red
Cleveland	23	red
South Yorkshire	23	red
South Wales	23	red
West Midlands	22	red
Metropolitan & City of London	22	red
Northamptonshire	20	red
Avon & Somerset	19	amber
Merseyside	19	amber
Bedfordshire	18	amber
Thames Valley	17	amber
Gwent	16	amber
Hertfordshire	16	amber
Leicestershire	15	amber
Derbyshire	15	amber
Cambridgeshire	15	amber
Gloucestershire	15	amber
Warwickshire	14	amber
Staffordshire	13	amber
Northumbria	13	amber
Cheshire	13	amber
Essex	13	amber
North Yorkshire	13	amber
Sussex	13	amber
Dorset	12	amber
Kent	12	amber
Durham	12	amber
Lancashire	12	amber
Hampshire	12	amber
North Wales	11	amber
Norfolk	10	green
Devon & Cornwall	10	green
West Mercia	10	green
Lincolnshire	10	green
Surrey	9	green
Wiltshire	9	green
Suffolk	9	green
Cumbria	8	green
Dyfed-Powys	5	green

4. The Home Office agreed that further work was needed to make the public and industry aware of the relative levels of car security on different forms of vehicle. Some cars are more vulnerable to being broken into, and some best selling models were targeted by criminals more frequently than others (Figure 3). The Home Office had developed a Car Theft Index based on data from the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency and others on the makes and models of car most likely to appear as a victim of theft. This index was on the Home Office website and available through local police forces. The industry, working in co-operation with the Home Office, had developed a new car security rating. And in 2004, the Department had introduced the British Insurance Car Security awards for the most secure cars in each of ten classes with an overall award for the safest manufacturer.[4] The Home Office agreed to consider whether there was scope to enhance public awareness of the risk of theft by requiring a Home Office security rating, based on the Car Theft Index, to be displayed on showroom models.[5]

Figure 3: A summary of the Thatcham vehicle security assessments for the twenty top selling makes of car in the United Kingdom in 2003-04

Source: National Audit Office analysis of data from the Thatcham website (www.thatcham.org) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

5. As new cars have become more difficult to break into, criminals have resorted to burglary or robbery to steal car keys, breaking into homes or confronting motorists in or near their cars to steal the keys and therefore the car. The Home Office was concerned about such crimes but did not have separate statistics on the incidence of carjacking. It was likely to be small in absolute terms, and the Home Office would need to consider the practicality of defining such crimes, and collecting data about them.[6]

6. Criminals can use the identity of another similar vehicle to hide any evidence that the vehicle they are selling has been stolen. As a consequence, the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency has a responsibility to keep information on its Vehicle Register secure and only to disclose details if someone can demonstrate 'reasonable cause'.[7] The Agency typically receives around 2,000 such requests a year, and a random selection are followed up by contacting insurance companies and the police to verify that the person does have 'reasonable cause.' Nevertheless, there is a risk that some cases continue to slip through the process.[8]

7. An estimated 20% of all car crime takes place in car parks. Yet across England and Wales there were just 132 secure car parks available at hospitals and 125 at railway stations. There are 20,000 or so car parks in England and Wales but only 1,350 car parks belonged to the Association of Chief Police Officers' Safer Car Parking Scheme at March 2004. The Home Office's target had been 2,000 participants by March 2000. The Home Office agreed more intensive action was needed for National Health Service and station car parks. The Department of Transport's Rail Group and the British Transport police were both engaging with operating companies, and the National Health Service security management service had been established recently. The Department also needed the support of colleagues in the relevant Government Departments.[9]

8. The Government's preference was for partnership working to improve car park security. It had, however, made clear in April 2004, that in the absence of real progress, all options would be considered to encourage the industry to deliver improvements in safety. Legislation was one option if it could be shown to deliver crime reduction benefits in a cost effective way. The original Safer Car Parks Scheme had been rigid, specifying precise features which might be relevant in big inner city car parks but not necessarily in a small local car park. A more flexible scheme had been introduced under which the appropriate measures were determined following an analysis of risk.[10]

1 Qq 1, 8-12, 35, 36, 92-94 Back

6 Qq 3-4 Back

7 The term 'reasonable cause' is not defined in the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002, but typically includes cases where someone is trying to identify a driver who damaged their vehicle, or who persistently obstructs access to their property. Back

8 Qq 43-50 Back

9 Qq 2, 19, 89 Back

10 Qq 20, 89-90, 101 Back