Alert to Vehicle Owners

By RURAL-WATCH | 14th January 2021

Vehicle owners and businesses are urged to be vigilant and consider taking safety measures to protect their cars by Warwickshire Police.
The crime prevention leaflets below provide advice regarding catalytic converter thefts and how to prevent them. View leaflets here: http://bit.ly/38GdhZe
Catalytic converters are stolen for the value of the precious metals in them or to be resold illegally, and it can take just a matter of minutes for someone to steal if they know what they are doing.
We’re working hard to reduce these offences and investigate those responsible.
If you see a theft in progress call 999 immediately, providing as much information about the offenders as possible. If you have information that could help us catch offenders or recover stolen catalytic converters, please call 101 or report on our website: https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/

Recent Incidents

We’ve had a number of catalytic converter thefts reported to us in the past few days.
• Yesterday morning, a catalytic converter was reported stolen from a Toyota Yaris on Oldbury Road, Nuneaton.
• We received a similar report of a theft from a Honda on Coventry Road, Bulkington, between 10.30pm on Tuesday night and 8am yesterday morning.
• A further theft was reported from a Mazda MX5 in Bulkington yesterday afternoon. Believed to have taken place some time in the past couple of weeks.
• At around 3.30pm yesterday, another theft was reported from a Honda Jazz on Burnaby Close in Nuneaton. This was thought to have taken place between 1pm on Tuesday and 11am yesterday morning.

Please see the following advice to help protect your vehicle:
•Park your vehicle in a garage or other well-lit secured area if you have one
•Use alarms, lighting and CCTV to deter thieves.
•Buy and fit a protection device specifically to cover the catalytic converter
•Use your vehicle’s alarm or installing a Thatcham approved alarm, which should activate if the vehicle is tilted or lifted
•Look out for anyone ‘working’ or acting suspiciously under vehicles (particularly in busy car parks).