Over the last year Merseyside Police has recorded more than 2,000 car thefts - significantly less than forces in many parts of the country.
Information received from Merseyside Police via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the ECHO revealed that from March 1, 2022 to March 1, 2023 the force recorded a total of 2,300 stolen vehicles.
Recent RAC data showed many forces across the country recorded much higher rates of car theft. They included West Midlands, with 15,889 recorded crimes, and Avon and Somerset with 4,467.
As part of the same FOI request, police released the top 10 models of car most involved in car thefts throughout Merseyside in that year.
Four different models of Ford were the most stolen, with the 309 reports of thefts of Ford Fiestas and 206 of Ford Focus cars. Police received 279 reports of thefts of Ford Transit vans.
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Models of Land Rover, Vauxhall and Volkswagen also made the top 10. 62 reports of Range Rover thefts were logged, as were 60 of the Land Rover Discovery model.
The list of the top 10 car models reported stolen from March 2022 to March 2023:
- Ford Fiesta (309 reports)
- Ford Transit (279 reports)
- Ford Focus (206 reports)
- Ford Kuga (131 reports)
- Land Rover Range Rover (62 reports)
- Land Rover Discovery (60 reports)
- Vauxhall Corsa (62 reports)
- Vauxhall Astra (31 reports)
- Volkswagen Golf (30 reports)
- Ford Ecosport (28 reports)
Merseyside Police has information published on how to help prevent car and vehicle theft. Alongside ensuring you have locked your vehicle and kept your keys safe, it provides guidance on how to keep vehicles with key fobs safe and how to check for cloning.
You can find guidance from Merseyside Police here.
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