More Vehicle Thefts – How The Police Are Failing Us
Vehicle Thefts; Crime Pays Yet Again – Where Are The Police?
Over the weekend, one of our offsite vehicle storage facilities received a visit from well equipped brazen criminals and we’re now in possession of half a brand new tipper in place of the whole one we had on Friday.
As you can see from the photo’s, the front end had been carefully and skillfully removed along with the airbags from inside the cab.
It’s not the first time this sort of thing has happened. In fact, we’ve had it done several times to us. Each time costing many MANY £Thousands. As usual, there’s likely to be a crash damaged doppelganger about to receive a new lease of life courtesy of this latest five finger discount. It’s not what we mean when we advertise ‘Free upgrades’ on our car and van hire ads.
Clearly this is no opportunistic theft. The tipper was in a locked compound with surveillance and other security in place, but in these lawless times, even the prospect of alarms and being caught on CCTV hasn’t been enough to stop the thieves. Be in no doubt, this latest theft, like the previous vehicle thefts we’ve suffered, have been planned and well executed. The very definition of organised crime – which our largely absent Police Force seem powerless to prevent, to detect or to deter.
We know the dance by now. It’s been reported, we have a crime number and if Greater Manchester Police remain true to form, issuing a crime number will be the only tangible outcome of their involvement. A ticket to being able to get a little redress from our insurers in return for even more costly premiums.
We’d call for stiffer sentences for the perpetrators, but how would that be a deterrent if they know they won’t see the inside of a courtroom or a prison cell? They know they’re probably not going to get caught and that the Police are unlikely to even try!
Whether it’s lack of numbers, lack of funding or lack of will, the end result is the same – criminals are once again profiting from crime at the expense of honest businesses. Taking money out of the local economy, out of hard working people’s pockets and no doubt funding more misery for everyone as the black economy continues to be enriched.
Previous Vehicle Thefts
The Stripped Berlingo
A while back now, we posted on our social media accounts about a Citroen Berlingo which was out on hire and like the latest partially stripped tipper, was similarly targetted, receiving almost identical treatment – here’s what we wrote following Police inaction;
Remember that Citroen Berlingo we posted about earlier this week? The one where the entire front end and airbags had been stolen? Where the stolen parts weren’t ripped out, but carefully, meticulously and expertly removed?
We have nothing further to report, because it appears NOTHING is being done.
It’s pretty obvious to anyone who cares to think about it, that somewhere there’s a collison- damaged Berlingo that’s had a very cheap repair thanks to parts which have ostensibly been stolen to order. Is this not the very definition of organised crime?
You might be shocked to know that Greater Manchester Police closed the case within an hour of the crime being reported by the garage it was parked outside, without even bothering to show up.
When we subsequently reported it ourselves they have still not deigned to contact us or (to our knowledge) even assigned an officer to investigate.
Needless to say, we’re very angry that a nearly new van could well end up being written off and disgusted that we cannot seem to be able to rely on law enforcement to even attempt to enforce the law.
This won’t be a one-off incident. Whoever did this to our van knew exactly what they were doing. They’ll have done it before and thanks to the disinterest of the Police, they’re free to continue doing it. We’re not going to fold overnight, but next time this could be a small business, a sole trader, someone honest just trying to make a living and feed their family, whose very livelihood relies on their van. Someone who will have to suffer massive costs, time off work, bureaucracy, frustration, higher insurance premiums etc through no fault of their own.
This isn’t ‘victimless crime’, if there ever was such a thing. This is the third time in the last fortnight that we’ve had parts stolen from parked vehicles, (at a total cost to put right of over £40,000), the third time these thefts have been reported to the Police and the third time that issuing a crime number is the sum total of policing effort afforded to us by GMP. We think this inaction is shameful and we hope Greater Manchester Police ARE ashamed.
Where criminals can act with impunity, the very concept of crime is academic. Everything is legal if no-one gets caught.
Ten Targetted Tippers
In between the recent tipper and the not as recent Berlingo, we also had one of our offsite compounds raided in which 10 brand new tippers had their catalytic converters removed overnight. Those of you who know about such things will know just how costly those were to replace. Once again many £Thousands.
The response from the Police? You’ve guessed it. A crime number. That’s it. Surely you weren’t expecting more?
Are The Police Really That Useless?
It’s a valid question. Maybe we’re unfairly lambasting the Police because of the six figure sums vehicle thefts and other vehicle crime has cost us (and surely we’re right to be angry), but to us it doesn’t seem right that the response from our Police is systematic indifference and woeful ineptitude. What also doesn’t seem right is the lack of accountability.
Vehicle thefts and thefts from vehicles aren’t victimless crimes. Whether as businesses or as individuals, we’ve all seen our insurance premiums going up and up. With the increase in vehicle repair costs and parts fuelling thefts and all of the above fuelling increased premiums, we’re ALL paying in a very real way for the failure of the Police to get a grip of this problem. We’re also all paying for the Police themselves. We’d argue we’re all getting ripped off by them too.
Outside our own bubble here, there are whole Facebook groups, websites etc dedicated to the increase in vehicle crime. A recent ONS survey revealed that the number of stolen cars, despite (allegedly) getting extra attention from the Police has barely been reduced between the financial years ending 2022 and 2023. In fact catalytic converter theft has actually increased during that same period.
A damning indictment of the poor state of affairs when it comes to vehicle thefts is that 77% of car thefts, currently at a 15 year high, go unsolved, with only 4% of cases resulting in a suspect being charged. How many of US would continue to have a job with only a 4% success rate?
It turns out a crime number is a consolation prize only – just like the lottery, it’s a ticket where the overwhelming majority loses.
We do, from time to time find ourselves having to recover our own vehicles, whether having been stolen or in need of repossession – we ALWAYS have to sort this out either by ourselves or via more reliable third parties, the Police have been of no use in pretty much all circumstances.
When we’ve posted about our vehicles becoming targets of vehicle thefts, the comments we receive are depressingly predictable. We are, of course, always grateful for the numerous messages of sympathy and support, but amongst them are comments from others who’ve been in the same boat. Typically mentioning just how utterly indifferent and ineffective the police have been. Phrases like “Don’t Bother”, “Waste of Time”, “Useless” and the like are commonplace.
The instances mentioned above aren’t the only times we’ve been let down by the Police. We could go on and on.
For example, a recent instance where one of our customers on his way back was rear-ended by another vehicle just yards down the road, he made the other driver follow him here and while he was trying to pay cash rather than involve the insurance (which we declined) we called the Police without him knowing. The Police DID show up, walked right past the other driver, who watched them walk past, then made off on foot never to be seen again, leaving his vehicle behind. The Police blocked the road with a recovery truck while they picked up the nameless driver’s car and we never heard of the matter again.
Isn’t it about time that the Police were able to be meaningfully held to account for their failure and lack of effort? Shouldn’t there be some redress for businesses and individuals who, through taxation pay for a service which they should reasonably be able to expect to receive but end up not recieving?
