Conservatives “legalising car theft” as over three in four cases go unsolved

EMBARGO: 22.30 Wednesday 1st May

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservative Government of “legalising car theft” as new figures reveal that in 2023, three in four car theft cases went unsolved and police took up to 24 hours to respond to calls. 

The Home Office’s own latest figures show that in 2023, a whopping 108,934 cases of car theft went unsolved - equivalent to 298 cases a day. This accounted for a staggering 77% of all car thefts recorded. Meanwhile, just 3% of cases resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed.

The Met was the worst performing police force, with 85% of car thefts going unsolved, or 33,237 cases. 85% of cases recorded by the British Transport Police also went unsolved, and 83% of cases in South Yorkshire. 

A series of Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats has also revealed the shocking wait times car theft victims face after reporting the incident to the police. In Durham, victims were left waiting an average of 23 hours and 54 minutes for an officer to arrive at the scene in 2023, while wait times in Cleveland were nearly 13 hours on average.

The Liberal Democrats have said the Conservative Government is to blame for these figures, after years of ineffective resourcing has left frontline police presences diminished. This includes taking over 4,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015. The party is calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible and trusted, with the time and resources to focus on tackling neighbourhood crimes like car theft. 

Commenting Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: 

“The Conservatives have effectively legalised car theft. Thousands of criminals are getting away with it, and the buck stops with the government.

“Victims of car theft are left feeling hopeless that they will never see justice. The vast majority of cases go unsolved and people are left waiting hours for the police to show up. 

“The numbers speak for themselves. For years, Conservative politicians have failed on crime. They can’t get the basics of frontline policing right and every day they are in office the problems get worse.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors: 

Full data on vehicle theft outcomes, broken down by police force, is available here.  Source: Home Office, Police recorded crime outcomes open data tables. 

Data on car theft response times was uncovered by an FOI to all 39 police forces in England. Their responses, which can be accessed here, provided the following data: 

• The average time (in hours:minutes:second) it takes for police to arrive on the scene of ‘theft of a motor vehicle’ incidents in your force for the following calendar years: 2023, 2022 and 2021.

• Data on PCSO workforces is available at: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2023: data tables’, Table 3.