Sticking it to the car criminals

4:56pm Monday 22nd January 2001

THE edges of the borough are the areas where drivers are most likely to have their cars stolen, statistics revealed this week.

Police analysts have found that St Mary Cray, St Paul Cray, Penge and Anerley are Bromleys car theft hot spots, with multi-storey, supermarket and station car parks car thieves favourite places to stake out their targets.

Over the past year, there were 2,057 car thefts in the borough and 107 cars were burnt out.

The Ramsden Estate, St Mary Cray, is the one of the top spots for dumping stolen vehicles. When police toured the estate they found more than 50 burnt out or abandoned cars.

The rising numbers of stolen cars being set alight are draining fire brigade resources and firefighters have joined up with police to help car owners beat the thieves. Fire crews will be in supermarket car parks handing out stickers for drivers to put in their windows saying Stop, no Valuables.

Sergeant John Jarvest of Bromleys Crime Reduction Unit designed the stickers. He said: The stickers are designed to work as a psychological reminder to drivers as well as a deterrent to thieves. Hopefully drivers will see the sticker as they get out of the car and remove any valuables from the car.

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