FORD THEFT CRISIS ‘IS GETTING WORSE’
Crime experts claim that one classic is stolen ‘every few days’ to order
‘ Watching footage of your pride and joy being driven off is just heart-breaking’ RUSSELL KNIGHT
Aclassic Ford is being stolen every few days in the UK, according to figures obtained by CCW. High-performance, high-value cars are among the worst hit, with 16 thefts and one attempted theft of a classic Ford being logged by the Ford Owners’ Club since the beginning of the year. Other recent classic car targets include a Porsche 911 and Jaguar E-type.
One recent victim is Russell Knight, who recently lost a white Ford Sierra XR4i to thieves in Birmingham. Driving a VW Golf with cloned number plates, the criminals entered the secure compound in which the Sierra had been kept for ten years. After using a jump pack to charge the Sierra’s flat battery, and disabling the steering wheel locking device, they simply drove the car away.
Details of the crime only came to light after Russell obtained CCTV footage of the area, and passed it on to the police. ‘ Watching footage of two blokes getting out of a car and driving off with your pride and joy is just heart-breaking,’ he says, ‘especially as the car is registered to my mother. She’s distraught. But the community has been amazingly supportive, especially the Classic Fords Forum. It’s good to know that the classic community sticks together.’ Vehicle crime consultant and former head of the Metropolitan Police Stolen Car Squad, Dr Ken German, says that the problem is down to organised crime. ‘They’re part of a gang, operating under a taskmaster and stealing to order. The gangs are getting more plentiful and more organised, and the police are so stretched at the moment that they just can’t deal with it.
‘Classic car thefts were bad last year – an epidemic at times – but it’s looking even worse this year. Many of these cars are being stolen from the south east because they can be quickly put in a container and shipped.’
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs agrees that there is a growing problem with classic thefts. Communications director, Geoff Lancaster, says: ‘Fast Fords have been popular targets for quite a while, especially as their values have risen quite sharply.
‘Historic vehicles kept within sight of the road or even on the road itself are particularly vulnerable. They tend not to have particularly sophisticated anti-theft devices, either. Rates of recovery are not good either and valuable cars get stripped for spares.’