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London and the North of England top the 2004 car crime league

A list of the 2004 UK car crime hotspots is dominated by places in London and the north of England. Towns and districts in these regions take 60% of places on the list.

Leading financial intermediary, Admiral has looked at its own figures for all types of car crime in 2004 and compiled a list of the twenty postcodes with the highest percentage of car crime. At number one is Dalston in East London, it is joined on the list by five other districts in London.

There are also six areas from Yorkshire in the list, three from the Northwest, three from the Southwest and one each from the West Midlands and Northeast.

Admiral's research is based on over 10,000 theft claims between December 2004 and December 2005. Here is the complete table of the twenty towns and districts with the highest percentage of theft claims this year.

Admiral managing director, Jane Stone, said, "Although we expect car crime to be high in some inner city districts, there are some surprises on our list, such as Thirsk in North Yorkshire and Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire. They are not towns that spring to mind when you think of car crime hotspots."

Admiral has also compiled a list of towns that have had a particularly low incidence of car crime this year. Perhaps less surprisingly it includes many towns in rural areas such as the north of Scotland. All of the towns and districts have over 300 policyholders, none of which have registered a theft claim this year.

Jane Stone continued, "The good news is that most types of car crime are falling. Last year car crime fell by 7%, and it has fallen by 31% since 1997, mainly because of improvements in security. However the number of smash and grab thefts is as high as ever. We cannot stress enough how important it is not to leave expensive items on show in your car."

Issue date: 10-12-04