You asked
Please provide information regarding the number of vehicles stolen in 2017 that were never recovered. If possible, please also provide the number of stolen vehicles that are three years old or less.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
To best answer your request from our available data, we have produced some analysis using the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which provides estimates of the total number of incidents of theft of a vehicle, where the vehicle was not recovered, broken down by age of the unrecovered vehicle. These estimates are based on a relatively small number of respondents and so cannot be regarded as exact and should be interpreted with caution. Survey respondents are also only asked to indicate which of several age categories is appropriate for their vehicle, not its exact age and, as such, we cannot provide an estimate for vehicles which are three years old or less, as you have requested.
The year ending December 2017 CSEW found that 45,561 incidents of theft of a vehicle involved vehicles that were not subsequently recovered. Of those incidents where the victim provided information regarding their unrecovered stolen vehicle’s age, 30,306 involved vehicles less than five years old and 13,598 involved vehicles more than five years old. It is worth noting that the number of vehicles within each age bracket do not sum to the total unrecovered stolen vehicles, as some individuals did not provide the age of their stolen vehicle.
We do not hold data for unrecovered theft of a vehicle offences recorded by the police. You may be able to retrieve this information if you contact police forces in England and Wales individually.
If you would like any further information in the future, you can email CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.