FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4263
You asked
I would like to request information relating to van thefts. I know that you have previously provided such information to What Van? but there has been a rapid increase in the van-owning population since 2019, with a surge in the courier market because of the pandemic. It would, therefore, be interesting to know what the current situation is with regard to van theft, as it is extremely relevant to many small businesses today, particularly as we are told there will be surge in crime and we are already seeing more thefts of vehicles.
Overall figures relating to van theft would be good, along with any breakdown of where these occur in the country.
If there is any way of knowing how the vans were stolen e.g. keys left in ignition, that would be useful.
Any figures that are set against the cost of van theft to the UK economy would also be useful.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We do not hold data specifically for Van theft alone as a result of the way the data is collected, through our data collection questionnaires Cars and Vans are grouped together under "Vehicle". As a result, we have no means to differentiate between them. Therefore, unfortuantely, we do not hold statistics broken down by specific vehicle type.
The Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft data tables, released 3 September 2020 provide the latest findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on the timing, location, method, and cost of theft of vehicles, theft from vehicles, and theft attempts. These tables also cover the safety precautions of the vehicles.
For the year ending March 2020, for theft of vehicles, the most common timing was during the week (76%) and when it is dark (58%).
The most common location for theft of a vehicle was from semi-private parking at home (39%). Six percent (6%) of thefts of vehicles occurred from a work car park.
The most common method of entry in theft of vehicle offences was by the offender manipulating signal from remote locking device (36%).
If you have any other crime-related queries in the future, you can email crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk.