Car theft & vehicle crime: where it happens
Street-level police records of vehicle crime — theft of vehicles, theft from vehicles and vehicle interference — around UK town and city centres, refreshed every month.
32,780
Vehicle crimes recorded around 111 town centres, September 2025 – August 2026
Cardiff
Highest count: 1,352 in 12 months
1 mile
Radius around each town centre — a like-for-like comparison
Vehicle crime across Britain, September 2025 – August 2026
Bigger circles = more vehicle crime around that town centre. Red = up more than 10% on the same period last year. Click any circle for the town’s worst streets.
Vehicle crime by town centre (September 2025 – August 2026)
| # | Area | Last 12 months | Last 3 months vs year before | Worst street |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiff | 1,352 | +95.4% | Knox Road |
| 2 | Nottingham | 1,023 | +24.2% | Forest Road West |
| 3 | Birmingham | 991 | -18% | Bradford Street |
| 4 | Bristol | 968 | +129.8% | River Street |
| 5 | London | 797 | -3% | Duke Of York Street |
| 6 | Luton | 742 | +2.5% | Osborne Road |
| 7 | Bradford | 733 | +11% | Morley Street |
| 8 | Leicester | 732 | -32.5% | North Bridge Place |
| 9 | Leeds | 698 | +5.9% | Springwell Street |
| 10 | Sheffield | 650 | -36.3% | Victoria Station Road |
| 11 | Middlesbrough | 621 | +19.5% | Windward Way |
| 12 | Northampton | 614 | -4.2% | West Street |
| 13 | Walsall | 607 | +26.7% | Marsh Lane |
| 14 | Southampton | 597 | +54.5% | Lawn Road |
| 15 | Slough | 595 | -36.2% | Harris Gardens |
| 16 | Liverpool | 582 | -24.8% | Fazakerley Street |
| 17 | Doncaster | 496 | -22.1% | Race Track |
| 18 | Newport | 453 | +53.3% | Shaftesbury Street |
| 19 | Reading | 440 | +6% | Portman Way |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 437 | -35.8% | Bloomsbury Street |
| 21 | Southend-on-Sea | 430 | +26% | Harcourt Avenue |
| 22 | Coventry | 429 | +6.2% | Burges |
| 23 | Milton Keynes | 422 | +24% | Witan Gate |
| 24 | West Bromwich | 416 | +23.2% | Alba Road |
| 25 | Bedford | 390 | +12.9% | Kingsbrook Road |
| 26 | Stockton-on-Tees | 389 | -16% | Loweswater Crescent |
| 27 | Preston | 379 | -19.6% | Chester Road |
| 28 | Grimsby | 369 | +33.3% | Clee Field Drive |
| 29 | Dudley | 364 | -17.9% | Tipton Road |
| 30 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 357 | +46.8% | Breamish Street |
| 31 | Blackpool | 344 | +43.2% | Coronation Street |
| 32 | Hastings | 339 | +114.8% | The Croft |
| 33 | Plymouth | 327 | +19.2% | Evelyn Place |
| 34 | Peterborough | 327 | -8.4% | Rivergate |
| 35 | Bournemouth | 326 | -28.3% | Weston Drive |
| 36 | Brighton | 325 | +63.6% | Cannon Place |
| 37 | Derby | 311 | +28.1% | Magnus Court |
| 38 | Portsmouth | 310 | +35.8% | Kingston Crescent |
| 39 | Swindon | 303 | -5.4% | Bridge Street |
| 40 | Swansea | 296 | +21.3% | Clews Mews |
| 41 | Medway (Gillingham) | 287 | -20.9% | Institute Road |
| 42 | Gateshead | 282 | -24.7% | St James Road |
| 43 | Darlington | 281 | +89.6% | Vancouver Street |
| 44 | Blackburn | 275 | -35% | High Street |
| 45 | Bath | 275 | +160% | Charlotte Street |
| 46 | Nuneaton | 269 | +6.2% | Kingsway |
| 47 | Watford | 266 | -12.7% | Local Board Road |
| 48 | Sunderland | 260 | -1.4% | Low Street |
| 49 | Huddersfield | 257 | +84% | Tanfield Road |
| 50 | Burnley | 255 | +22.1% | Felix Street |
| 51 | Wakefield | 249 | -3.4% | Tuke Grove |
| 52 | Rotherham | 249 | +132.5% | Corporation Street |
| 53 | Mansfield | 249 | +115.9% | Kingston Road |
| 54 | Basildon | 242 | -18.2% | Kennet Way |
| 55 | Hartlepool | 235 | +37.2% | Everett Street |
| 56 | Worcester | 234 | +66.7% | Wolverton Road |
| 57 | Ipswich | 230 | -12.7% | A137 |
| 58 | Norwich | 226 | +47.4% | Wall Lane |
| 59 | York | 221 | -8.8% | Queen Anne's Road |
| 60 | Hull | 221 | +48.2% | Neptune Street |
| 61 | Stevenage | 221 | -15.4% | King Pin Square |
| 62 | Barnsley | 216 | -33.3% | Hanson Street |
| 63 | St Albans | 207 | -52.1% | Newsom Place |
| 64 | Aylesbury | 204 | -39.7% | Gatehouse Road |
| 65 | Eastbourne | 200 | +159.3% | Lion Lane |
| 66 | Stoke-on-Trent | 198 | -46.1% | Gable Street |
| 67 | High Wycombe | 198 | -67.9% | Oxford Street |
| 68 | Halifax | 197 | +66.7% | Bedford Street |
| 69 | Crawley | 193 | +17.6% | Downland Place |
| 70 | Worthing | 183 | +39% | Southey Road |
| 71 | Scunthorpe | 176 | 0% | Crosby Road |
| 72 | Canterbury | 174 | 0% | Harcourt Drive |
| 73 | Cambridge | 160 | -24.1% | Sandy Lane |
| 74 | Maidstone | 160 | -52.1% | Mill Wood |
| 75 | St Helens | 149 | +56% | Bruce Street |
| 76 | Exeter | 148 | +14.3% | Waterloo Road |
| 77 | Lincoln | 146 | +25% | Portland Street |
| 78 | Colchester | 146 | -42.6% | St Botolph's Circus |
| 79 | Poole | 143 | +190.9% | Sterte Avenue |
| 80 | South Shields | 142 | -28.6% | Shrewsbury Terrace |
| 81 | Warrington | 141 | -19.1% | Chapel Yard |
| 82 | Chelmsford | 138 | +32.3% | Christy Avenue |
| 83 | Kettering | 133 | +3.1% | Crown Street |
| 84 | Oxford | 130 | 0% | Western Road |
| 85 | Solihull | 128 | -30.6% | Station Road |
| 86 | Basingstoke | 125 | +111.8% | Morse Road |
| 87 | Burton upon Trent | 124 | +44% | Albion Terrace |
| 88 | Torquay | 122 | +45.5% | St Lukes Road |
| 89 | Crewe | 121 | +21.1% | Ludlow Avenue |
| 90 | Lancaster | 120 | +96% | Aberdeen Road |
| 91 | Taunton | 113 | +210% | Taunton |
| 92 | Wrexham | 109 | -48.8% | Derby Road |
| 93 | Rugby | 106 | -45% | Oswald Way |
| 94 | Birkenhead | 105 | -3.3% | Catherine Street |
| 95 | Ashford (Kent) | 102 | +15.8% | Bridge Road |
| 96 | Woking | 96 | -20% | Marston Road |
| 97 | Chesterfield | 96 | -16% | South Place |
| 98 | Redditch | 96 | -63.2% | Beoley Road West |
| 99 | Harrogate | 92 | -25.7% | Mayfield Terrace |
| 100 | Guildford | 92 | +35% | Ward Street |
| 101 | Carlisle | 88 | +73.3% | Millrace Road |
| 102 | Salisbury | 80 | -11.1% | Farm Lane |
| 103 | Wiltshire (Trowbridge) | 70 | +87.5% | St Augustine's Road |
| 104 | Durham | 63 | +83.3% | Boste Crescent |
| 105 | Corby | 59 | 0% | Railside Lane |
| 106 | Hereford | 49 | +90% | Whitecross Road |
| 107 | Telford | 45 | +23.1% | Stafford Park 17 |
| 108 | Chester | 40 | -36.4% | Bunce Street |
| 109 | Winchester | 36 | -57.1% | St George's Street |
| 110 | Shrewsbury | 34 | -25% | Longner Street |
| 111 | Chippenham | 22 | 0% | Bristol Road |
Street-level police records within 1 mile of each town centre, September 2025 to August 2026. Scotland is not included — Police Scotland does not publish street-level data — and areas with major gaps in published data (currently Greater Manchester) are excluded rather than shown misleadingly low. Source: data.police.uk, Open Government Licence. These are counts, not rates per head: a larger centre with more cars and more visitors will record more. For a rate per 1,000 residents, see the force table below.
Vehicle crime by police force area (year ending June 2026)
The table above counts crimes in a town centre. This one gives the rate per 1,000 people living in each police force area, so areas of different sizes can be compared. England and Wales as a whole records 5.04 per 1,000.
| # | Police force area | Per 1,000 residents | Offences recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Police | 9.27 | 84,401 |
| 2 | West Midlands | 9.07 | 27,470 |
| 3 | South Yorkshire | 6.98 | 10,019 |
| 4 | West Yorkshire | 6.52 | 15,808 |
| 5 | Cleveland | 5.85 | 3,508 |
| 6 | Bedfordshire | 5.49 | 4,145 |
| 7 | Greater Manchester | 5.26 | 15,870 |
| 8 | Essex | 5.20 | 10,104 |
| 9 | Gwent | 5.15 | 3,100 |
| 10 | Avon and Somerset | 4.99 | 9,097 |
| 11 | Warwickshire | 4.96 | 3,196 |
| 12 | Hertfordshire | 4.78 | 5,927 |
| 13 | Nottinghamshire | 4.63 | 5,504 |
| 14 | Northamptonshire | 4.62 | 3,803 |
| 15 | South Wales | 4.54 | 6,147 |
| 16 | Northumbria | 4.41 | 6,671 |
| 17 | Leicestershire | 4.35 | 5,120 |
| 18 | Dorset | 4.26 | 3,391 |
| 19 | Thames Valley | 4.16 | 11,065 |
| 20 | Lancashire | 4.06 | 6,555 |
| 21 | Cambridgeshire | 3.97 | 3,742 |
| 22 | Durham | 3.93 | 2,567 |
| 23 | Staffordshire | 3.84 | 4,557 |
| 24 | Kent | 3.81 | 7,419 |
| 25 | Humberside | 3.79 | 3,658 |
| 26 | Gloucestershire | 3.61 | 2,428 |
| 27 | Hampshire | 3.51 | 7,245 |
| 28 | Merseyside | 3.42 | 5,062 |
| 29 | Surrey | 3.31 | 4,161 |
| 30 | Derbyshire | 3.20 | 3,523 |
| 31 | Sussex | 2.90 | 5,125 |
| 32 | Lincolnshire | 2.80 | 2,227 |
| 33 | Suffolk | 2.53 | 1,996 |
| 34 | Wiltshire | 2.37 | 1,827 |
| 35 | West Mercia | 2.35 | 3,175 |
| 36 | Cheshire | 1.92 | 2,201 |
| 37 | Devon and Cornwall | 1.89 | 3,489 |
| 38 | North Yorkshire | 1.73 | 1,468 |
| 39 | North Wales | 1.67 | 1,164 |
| 40 | Cumbria | 1.50 | 773 |
| 41 | Norfolk | 1.48 | 1,397 |
| 42 | Dyfed-Powys | 1.32 | 689 |
| — | City of London | — | 119 |
- Police recorded crime lost its accredited official statistics status in January 2014 and is published as official statistics only.
- British Transport Police is excluded: it has no resident population, so no rate can be calculated for it.
- ONS does not publish a rate for City of London because of its small resident population.
- Figures are rolling 12-month totals to the stated quarter end, and are not comparable with counts taken from data.police.uk street-level records, which are published on a different basis.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables, year ending June 2026; police recorded crime collected by the Home Office.
Use this on your own site
Free to embed, including commercially, under the Open Government Licence. It reads our live data, so it updates when ONS publishes, and it carries the source and licence inside the frame. Add ?view=authorities for local authorities, or ?area=west-yorkshire for a single area.
Five defences that actually work
Most vehicle crime is opportunistic — thieves take the easiest target on the street. Each of these closes off a specific method they use.
Our pick · best £-for-risk
Faraday key box / pouch
Keyless 'relay' theft is the fastest-growing way cars are stolen — thieves amplify your fob's signal from outside the house. A signal-blocking box shuts the method down.
from ~£10 · Full guide →
Steering wheel lock
A visible deterrent that works: thieves at a car park choose the car without one. Sold Secure Diamond-rated bars resist attack for minutes thieves don't have.
~£40–£70 · Full guide →
OBD port lock
Many thefts of modern cars go through the diagnostic port — plug in, program a blank key, drive away. A port lock blocks the route.
~£25–£50 · Full guide →
GPS tracker (Thatcham-approved)
Doesn't stop the theft — gets the car back. Thatcham S5/S7 trackers materially raise recovery rates and can cut insurance premiums.
~£100–£300 + subscription · Full guide →
Dashcam (parking mode)
Evidence for theft attempts, vandalism and car-park hits while parked — and after a collision, footage that turns a contested account into a documented one.
~£50–£150 · Full guide →
Catalytic converter lock
Hybrids are targeted for the precious metals in their cats — cut out in under two minutes, £1,000+ to replace. A bolted guard plate or clamp makes the job too slow and loud to attempt.
~£60–£200 · Full guide →
Locking wheel nuts
Alloys vanish off driveways overnight — four wheels gone on bricks by morning. A decent locking nut set on each wheel makes yours the car they skip.
~£20–£40 · Full guide →
Related on Swift Assist
New: the dark-nights myth
Does vehicle crime really surge when the clocks go back? Nationally, barely — but some towns triple while seaside towns run the other way. Winter vs summer, every town compared.
See your town's seasonal pattern →Need this data for your own work?
Site and junction reports from £95, next working day. Free for community groups, campaigners and journalists.