Overview of vehicle-related theft: England and Wales

This article is intended to provide information on long-term trends alongside additional data on the characteristics of victims and nature of crime. It may not include the most recent published data, which can be found in the latest quarterly Crime in England and Wales release.

Broadly speaking, a person commits a vehicle-related theft if they steal or attempt to steal a motor vehicle, parts or accessories from a vehicle, or anything from inside a vehicle.

Figures on vehicle-related theft offences are included in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data, although the information available from each source and their coverage differ.

The CSEW is a household survey and as such, includes offences against private households only but relates to vehicles owned by any member of the household (company cars are included). CSEW offences cover cars, vans, motorbikes, motor-scooters or mopeds used for non-commercial purposes published in three categories:

• “theft from vehicles”, which refers to both theft of parts and accessories of motor vehicles and to theft of contents

• “theft of vehicles”, where the vehicle is driven away illegally, whether or not it is recovered

• “attempted thefts of and from vehicles”, which does not differentiate between attempted thefts of and attempted thefts from vehicles as it is often difficult to ascertain the offender’s intention

If parts or contents are stolen as well as the vehicle being moved, the incident is classified as theft of vehicle.

The police recorded crime category of vehicle offences covers private and commercial vehicles (although does not distinguish between the two) and comprises:

• “theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle”, where the vehicle is taken without the consent of the owner or other lawful authority; this includes incidents where there is intent to permanently deprive the owner or where intent is not evident, typically including “joyriding” where the car is later recovered

• “aggravated vehicle taking”, where a vehicle once taken is known to have been driven dangerously, damaged, or caused an accident

• “theft from a vehicle”, which refers to targeting property in or on the vehicle (this includes attempts)

• “interfering with a motor vehicle”, which includes crimes where, while damage has been caused to the vehicle as part of an attempt to steal either the vehicle or its contents or take the vehicle without consent, the specific intent of the offender is not obvious¹; for example, a car door may be damaged, which shows an attempt was made to open it, but it cannot be determined if the intent was to steal the car or some contents within it.

“Interfering with a motor vehicle” offences as presented in the crime statistics bulletins are equivalent to offences formally referred to as “vehicle interference and tampering”. The CSEW cannot separately identify this category. In comparisons with the CSEW it is included in the attempted vehicle theft category but in some instances could be viewed as criminal damage or even as nuisance, for example, when a car window is smashed with high value items visible on the seat but the items are not stolen.

The taking of vehicles during robberies (often termed car-jacking) is included within the robbery offence group.

The CSEW provides a better measure of national trends in vehicle-related theft. But, police recorded crime data provide a good measure of offences at sub-national level, where the sample size of the CSEW is not large enough to yield estimates with reasonable levels of precision.

Further discussion on the strengths and limitations of the two main sources is available in the “Which source provides the better measure of vehicle-related theft?” section.

Notes for: How is vehicle-related theft defined and measured?

1. A change in the guidance in April 2014 within the Home Office Counting Rules with respect to interpreting the motive of the offender in the case of interfering with a motor vehicle is likely to have caused the subsequent increases recorded in this offence category. This guidance change was designed to reduce the burden involved in determining which crime category to record the incident within. This is likely to have led to offences that previously might have been recorded as attempted theft of, or from, a vehicle or criminal damage to a vehicle subsequently being recorded as vehicle interference where the motive of the offender was not clear.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) has collected information on crimes, including vehicle-related theft, experienced by respondents in a consistent manner since the survey first ran in 1981 and thus estimates are directly comparable across the history of the survey.

Care should be taken with regard to historical police recorded crime data, as changes to recording practices following the introduction of the new Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) in April 1998 and the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002 typically resulted in an increase in the number of crimes recorded.

The long-term trends in vehicle-related theft as measured by the CSEW and police recorded crime are broadly similar.

Over the last decade, vehicle-related theft has accounted for around one in seven crimes (between 12% and 15%) covered by the CSEW¹. At peak levels in the early 1990s this crime type accounted for around one in four crimes (between 23% and 25%) estimated by the survey. Similar proportions are found in the number of vehicle offences recorded by the police across the same time period.

The estimated number of CSEW vehicle-related theft incidents rose steadily from 1981 before peaking at 4,293,000 in the year ending December 1993; this increase is fairly consistent with the general increase in crime during this period. This level held for the year ending December 1995, following which the estimated number of incidents declined steadily over the last 2 decades to a low of 790,000² incidents in the survey year ending March 2017, with minor year-on-year fluctuation during this period.

In the survey year ending March 2017, around 4 in 100 vehicle-owning households had been victims of vehicle-related theft. This compares with around 20 in 100 vehicle-owning households in the year ending December 1993, meaning that the likelihood of vehicle-owning households being a victim of vehicle-related theft fell by around 80% compared with 1993.

The numbers of police recorded vehicle offences showed a broadly similar trend to that seen in the CSEW. Numbers of recorded offences rose fairly steadily throughout the 1980s until reaching a peak of 1,549,000 offences in the year ending December 1992, albeit with some year-on-year fluctuation. From this point onwards there has been a general pattern of decline (reaching a low of 350,000 offences in the year ending March 2015). The number of offences has been rising since the year ending March 2015, though it is not clear at this stage whether this represents a change in the longer-term downward trend. This recent increase may in part be caused by a rise in thefts of motorbikes and scooters; these vehicles typically do not have immobilisers and may be easier for offenders to target.

The striking rate of reduction in vehicle-related theft since the 1990s is thought, at least in-part, to be due to improvements to vehicle security, as suggested in the article, The crime drop and the security hypothesis. This is discussed further in the Home Office research report, Reducing criminal opportunity: vehicle security and vehicle crime. Alongside this, there are a range of other hypotheses put forward to explain the long-term falls in property crime. For example, evidence from the Home Office research report on the drug epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s published in July 2014 suggests the rise and fall in vehicle-related theft could also be partly attributed to the changing levels of illegal drug use.

Latest figures and trends are available in the most recent quarterly Crime in England and Wales release.

Notes for: What are the long-term trends in vehicle-related theft?

1. These figures exclude fraud and computer misuse. The CSEW started measuring these offences in October 2015. Including fraud and computer misuse, vehicle-related theft offences accounted for 7% of all CSEW crime covered by the survey in the year ending March 2017.

2. The 95% confidence interval around this estimate is [726,000 to 854,000]. Any sample survey may produce estimates that differ from the figures that would have been obtained if the whole population had been interviewed. The confidence interval provides a range of values around an estimate (also referred to as the margin of error of the estimate). Section 8.1 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales has more information about confidence intervals and statistical significance.

Police force area recorded crime data show that a large proportion of the police recorded crime category of vehicle offences is concentrated in a few predominantly urban areas. The Metropolitan Police along with Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and West Midlands police forces consistently account for around 40% of all vehicle offences recorded by the police.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) Appendix tables published alongside our Focus on: Property Crime publication provide information about the household and area characteristics associated with being a victim of vehicle-related theft. These have shown that some demographic groups have been more likely to be victims of vehicle-related theft. Vehicle-owning households:

• which comprise of an adult(s) and children have been more likely to be victims than households which comprise of an adult(s) and no children

• where the household reference person¹ is either in employment or unemployed have been more likely to be victims than vehicle-owning households where the household reference person is economically inactive (such as a student or retired individual)

• comprising of private or social renters have been more likely to be victims than owner occupiers

• with detached housing accommodation have been less likely to be victims than households living in other types of accommodation (semi-detached, terraced or flats and maisonettes)

• living in urban areas have been more likely to be victims than vehicle-owning households living in rural areas

Notes for: Which groups in society are most likely to be victims of vehicle-related theft?

1. The household reference person is the member of the household in whose name the accommodation is owned or rented, or is otherwise responsible for the accommodation. Where this responsibility is joint within the household, this is the person with the highest income. If incomes are equal, then this is the oldest person.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) Nature of crime tables provide further information about the circumstances surrounding incidents of vehicle-related theft over the last decade.

A noticeable change during this time period has been the main method of entry used in incidents of vehicle-related theft. Forcing or attempting to force the lock as a method of entering the vehicle has decreased from occurring in around one in three incidents to one in seven incidents (31% in the year ending March 2006 and 14% in the year ending March 2016). Breaking or attempting to break the window has decreased from occurring in almost one-half of incidents to around one in five incidents (48% in the year ending March 2006 and 23% in the year ending March 2016).

Entering the vehicle through an unlocked door has increased from occurring in around one in eight incidents to around one-half of incidents (13% in the year ending March 2006 and 43% in the year ending March 2016), whilst offenders using a key to enter the vehicle has consistently occurred in less than one in ten incidents across the last decade (between 3% and 7% of incidents).

The CSEW “Nature of crime” tables provide additional information regarding the nature and circumstances of vehicle-related theft over the last decade, including:

• between two-thirds and three-quarters of vehicle-related thefts occurred at home

• in the majority of years it was more likely that a stolen vehicle was not returned to the owner than returned

• exterior fittings (such as hub caps, wheel trims or number plates) have typically been the most frequently stolen items in incidents of theft from vehicles, with electrical equipment and valuables also being commonly stolen

• consistently around two-thirds of vehicle-related thefts occurred during the week (equivalent to around 15% per weekday) and one-third at the weekend (equivalent to around 13% per weekend day)

• typically just under four-fifths of vehicle-related thefts took place during the evening or night (6pm to 6am) and just over one-fifth took place during the morning or afternoon (6am to 6pm)

Further information about the nature and victims of vehicle-related theft is currently restricted to the CSEW; only limited data are currently available on the circumstances surrounding offences in the main recorded crime collection. It is anticipated that in the future we may be able to provide further information about crime incidents recorded by the police as more detailed data sources become available centrally.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) has collected information on crimes, including vehicle-related theft, experienced by respondents in a consistent manner since the survey first ran in 1981. It captures incidents that are not reported to the police and is not affected by changes in police recording practices, and is therefore a more reliable measure of long-term trends than police recorded crime.

However, the survey will not capture crimes against businesses, so data on commercial vehicle-related theft are not available, or offences committed against people not resident in households (for example, students living in halls of residence). While estimates at the national level (England and Wales) are of good quality, lower-level geography estimates are not robust.

Police recorded crime data have a wider population coverage, including crimes committed against people not resident in households (such as overseas visitors) if reported to and recorded by the police. Lower-level geography data (police force and community safety partnership areas) are also available. Additionally, police recorded vehicle-related theft data have a wider offence coverage, covering business as well as personal vehicles (although it does not distinguish between the two).

The police recorded crime data do not include offences that do not come to the attention of the police or are not recorded by them. According to the CSEW, vehicle-related theft offences tend to be reported to the police by between two-fifths and one-half of victims (although almost all victims of theft of vehicles report the offence to the police).

Also, due to changes in recording practices introduced in 1998 and 2002, it is not possible to directly compare police recorded crime data for any period prior to the year ending March 2003 with subsequent years.

Additionally, there are currently concerns about the quality of crime recording; crimes may not be recorded consistently across police forces and so the true level of recorded crime may be understated. Following an assessment of crime statistics by the UK Statistics Authority, published in January 2014, the statistics based on police recorded crime data have been found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics.

Since the UK Statistics Authority assessment decision, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has undertaken an inspection of the integrity of police recorded crime. The Crime-recording: making the victim count report, published by HMIC, found that an estimated 19% of all offences that should have been recorded as a crime were not. The audits looked specifically at violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, burglary, criminal damage and a residual category of other offences (excluding fraud). It is therefore not possible to provide an under-recording rate for vehicle-related theft as these offences would be classified under other offences.

The renewed focus on the quality of crime recording means that caution is needed when interpreting statistics on police recorded crime. While it is possible that improvements in compliance with the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) may have led to increases in the number of crimes recorded by the police, it is not possible to quantify the scale of this, or assess how this effect varied between different police forces. However, the effect of improved compliance with recording standards is thought to have been more pronounced for violent and sexual offences rather than theft offences.

Therefore, on balance, the CSEW provides a better measure of national medium and longer-term trends in vehicle-related theft; although police recorded crime provides a good source of sub-national data for vehicle-related theft offences and can provide a better indication of emerging trends.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

Crime in England and Wales (quarterly publication) – the preferred source for latest trends

• Appendix tables A1, A2, A3 and A8 include data on numbers of incidents, incidence rates, prevalence rates and numbers of victims for the complete survey time-series (starting from the year ending December 1981)

• Quarterly table QT2 includes data on numbers of incidents in the previous three survey years, broken down by quarter of interview

• Open data tables (Household crime – Incidence and Household crime – Prevalence) include data broken down by demographic information

• Annual trend and demographic tables D5, D6, D7 and D8 include data on repeat victimisation and incidents reported to the police – note: only published alongside “year ending March” releases

• Annual supplementary table S14 includes data on victim satisfaction with police handling of vehicle-related theft incidents – note: only published alongside “year ending March” releases

Focus on: Property Crime (annual publication; latest edition published in November 2016) – the preferred source for more detailed analysis, including victim characteristics and details regarding the circumstances of offences

• commentary in overview chapter on time-series trends and more detailed findings from the latest financial year

• Appendix table 3 includes data on household demographics of “vehicle-related theft” victims

• Nature of crime tables 4.1 to 4.10 include data about the circumstances surrounding the vehicle-related theft incidents, including time, location, method of entry and more

Police recorded crime

Crime in England and Wales (quarterly publication)

• Appendix table A4 includes data on numbers of incidents since the year ending March 2003, following the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002; this is the earliest time period for which the data are directly comparable

• Quarterly table QT1 includes data on numbers of incidents in the previous 2 years, broken down by quarter

• Police force area tables P1, P2 and P3 include data on numbers of incidents and rates per 1,000 population in the latest 12-month period and percentage changes with the previous 12-month period, broken down at police force area level

• Police force area open data include a time-series of numbers of incidents back to the year ending March 2003 by police force area

• Community safety partnership data include a time-series of numbers of incidents back to the year ending March 2003 by community safety partnership

Focus on: Property Crime (annual publication; latest edition published in November 2016)

• commentary in overview chapter on time-series trends and more detailed findings from the latest financial year

Commercial Victimisation Survey (Home Office)

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) is a telephone survey in which respondents from a representative sample of business premises in certain sectors in England and Wales are asked about crimes experienced at their premises in the 12 months prior to interview. In 2016, for example, three sectors were surveyed: “wholesale and retail”, “transportation and storage” and “administration and support”.

The CVS is run by the Home Office and data are published on the Home Office’s Crime against businesses statistics web pages.

Data are available on the proportion and number of premises that experienced vehicle-related theft (theft of and from vehicles), as well as the incidence rates and number of incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year prior to interview, by industry sector.

Sentencing data (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publish data on prosecutions and convictions, and sentencing; the latest Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly (CJSQ) publication is available from the MoJ Criminal justice statistics web pages.

It is not possible to separately identify vehicle-related theft from within “theft offences” in the main overview tables of the CJSQ. However, a separate “Motoring” section is included in these publications, within which prosecutions and convictions, and sentencing data are available for the combined offence of “theft of a motor vehicle or aggravated vehicle taking”. Data are not specifically available for “theft from a vehicle” or “interfering with a motor vehicle”.

MoJ publish data tools on prosecutions and convictions, and sentencing at an offence level breakdown, including a “Motoring tool”; these are available in the most recent CJSQ release.

Scotland

Crime statistics for Scotland are collected and published separately.

Recorded crime statistics for Scotland are not directly comparable with those in England and Wales. The recorded crime statistics for Scotland are collected on the basis of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS), introduced in 2004, which like its counterpart in England and Wales, aims to give consistency in crime recording. The main principles of the SCRS are similar to the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) for England and Wales with regard to when a crime should be recorded; however, there are differences between the respective counting rules.

Differences in legislation and common law also have to be taken into account when comparing the crime statistics for Scotland with England and Wales.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), however, does follow a similar format to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), having a shared antecedence in the British Crime Survey (whose sample during some rounds of the survey in the 1980s covered Scotland, south of the Caledonian Canal). So, while there are differences in the crimes or offence classifications to reflect the differing legal systems, the data are broadly comparable.

Police recorded crime and SCJS data are published by the Scottish Government.

Northern Ireland

Crime statistics for Northern Ireland are collected and published separately.

The legal system in Northern Ireland is based on that of England and Wales; the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) also has the same notifiable offence list for recorded crime as used in England and Wales. In addition, the PSNI has adopted the NCRS and Home Office Counting Rules for recorded crime that applies in England and Wales. Therefore, there is broad comparability between the recorded crime statistics in Northern Ireland and England and Wales.

The Northern Ireland Crime Survey (NICS) also closely mirrors the format and content of the CSEW, using a very similar methodology with continuous interviewing and a face-to-face interview with a nationally representative sample of adults (16 years and over), using a similar set of questions. Therefore, results from the two surveys are broadly comparable.

Police recorded crime data are published by the PSNI and NICS data are published by the Department of Justice (Northern Ireland).

A number of other vehicle-related crime offences are recorded as well as vehicle-related theft, these being “criminal damage to a vehicle” and motoring offences. Both offence types are briefly discussed in this article, with further detail available in upcoming overview article publications.

Data for the offence of “criminal damage to a vehicle” are available in both the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data series. Both data series are published in the quarterly Crime in England and Wales release and annual Focus on: Property Crime release.

Data for the offence group of motoring offences, which covers both notifiable¹ and summary offences², are available in the police recorded crime data series and a number of sources relating to summary offences:

Notifiable offences

• Crime in England and Wales Appendix tables

Summary offences

• Ministry of Justice Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication – data on prosecutions and convictions, and sentencing, with overview tables providing information regarding the Criminal Justice System broken down by offence type, including “summary motoring offences”

• Home Office Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics annual publication – data outlining the number of fixed penalty notices issued for motoring offences

Notes for: Other vehicle-related crime

1. Notifiable offences are “causing death by aggravated vehicle taking”, “causing death or serious injury by dangerous driving”, “causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs”, “causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving”, “causing death or serious injury by driving: unlicensed or disqualified or uninsured drivers”, and “dangerous driving”.

2. Examples of summary offences include “speed limit offences”, “seat belt offences” and “use of handheld mobile phone while driving”.

The basic definition of theft is laid out in section 1 of the Theft Act 1968:

[1] A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and “thief” and “steal” shall be construed accordingly.

[2] It is immaterial whether the appropriation is made with a view to gain, or is made for the thief’s own benefit.

The offence of taking a motor vehicle or other conveyance without authority is laid out in section 12 of the Theft Act 1968:

[1] Subject to subsections [5] and [6], a person shall be guilty of an offence if, without having the consent of the owner or other lawful authority, he takes any conveyance for his own or another’s use or, knowing that any conveyance has been taken without such authority, drives it or allows himself to be carried in or on it.

[2] A person guilty of an offence under subsection [1] shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

[5] Subsection [1] shall not apply in relation to pedal cycles; but, subject to subsection [6], a person who, without having the consent of the owner or other lawful authority, takes a pedal cycle for his own or another’s use, or rides a pedal cycle knowing it to have been taken without such authority, shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

[6] A person does not commit an offence under this section by anything done in the belief that he has lawful authority to do it or that he would have the owner’s consent if the owner knew of his doing it and the circumstances of it.

[7] For purposes of this section:

(a) “conveyance” means any conveyance constructed or adapted for the carriage of a person or persons whether by land, water or air, except that it does not include a conveyance constructed or adapted for use only under the control of a person not carried in or on it, and “drive” shall be construed accordingly

(b) “owner”, in relation to a conveyance which is the subject of a hiring agreement or hire-purchase agreement, means the person in possession of the conveyance under that agreement

The offence of aggravated vehicle-taking is laid out in section 12 A of the Theft Act 1968:

[1] Subject to subsection [3], a person is guilty of aggravated taking of a vehicle if:

(a) he commits an offence under section 12(1) (in this section referred to as a “basic offence”) in relation to a mechanically propelled vehicle

(b) it is proved that, at any time after the vehicle was unlawfully taken (whether by him or another) and before it was recovered, the vehicle was driven, or injury or damage was caused, in one or more of the circumstances set out in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection [2].

[2] The circumstances referred to in subsection [1], (b) are:

(a) that the vehicle was driven dangerously on a road or other public place

(b) that, owing to the driving of the vehicle, an accident occurred by which injury was caused to any person

(c) that, owing to the driving of the vehicle, an accident occurred by which damage was caused to any property, other than the vehicle

(d) that damage was caused to the vehicle

[3] A person is not guilty of an offence under this section if he proves that, as regards any such proven driving, injury or damage as is referred to in subsection [1], (b), either:

(a) the driving, accident or damage referred to in subsection [2] occurred before he committed the basic offence

(b) he was neither in nor on nor in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle when that driving, accident or damage occurred

[4] A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or, if it is proved that, in circumstances falling within subsection [2], (b), the accident caused the death of the person concerned, 14 years.