Vehicle Offences Fell 6.7% to 312,231 but Rose 19.9% in Gwent, ONS Shows

• Police recorded 312,231 vehicle offences in the year to June 2026, down 6.7% on the 334,670 of the year before, in Office for National Statistics figures for England and Wales.
• The Metropolitan Police area logged 9.27 offences per 1,000 residents and West Midlands Police 9.07, against 1.32 in Dyfed-Powys.
• Gwent recorded 19.9% more vehicle offences and Nottinghamshire 11.6% more, while West Mercia and Leicestershire fell by more than 21%.

Where You Park Decides Whether the National Fall Applies to Your Car

Police recorded 312,231 vehicle offences in the 12 months to June 2026. That is 22,439 fewer than in the 12 months to June 2025, a fall of 6.7%, and it works out at 855 offences a day.

Theft from a vehicle is the biggest group. Police recorded 149,287 of them, 47.8% of the total, down 8.6% from 163,330. Theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle came to 115,299, which is 316 a day and 36.9% of the total, down 3.4% from 119,371. Interfering with a motor vehicle fell 8.3% to 43,783 from 47,743.

The longer run puts the latest year in context. Annual vehicle offences stood at 468,776 in the year to March 2020 and at 1,074,659 in the year to March 2003. The latest total is 33.4% below the first figure and 70.9% below the second.

A national average hides a spread that is much wider than the fall itself. A resident of one police area faced seven times the vehicle offence rate of a resident in another, and Gwent recorded 19.9% more offences than the year before, with several other forces also going up.

London and the West Midlands Run Seven Times Dyfed-Powys

The ONS publishes each police force area’s rate per 1,000 residents. The Metropolitan Police area recorded 9.27 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, 84,401 offences in all. West Midlands Police recorded 9.07, with 27,470 offences. The national rate is 5.04.

Dyfed-Powys sits at the other end with 1.32 per 1,000 residents and 689 offences. Divide 9.27 by 1.32 and the Metropolitan Police rate comes out at 7.0 times the Dyfed-Powys rate. West Midlands Police runs at 6.9 times.

Behind those two come South Yorkshire at 6.98, West Yorkshire at 6.52, Cleveland at 5.85, Bedfordshire at 5.49, Greater Manchester at 5.26, Essex at 5.20 and Gwent at 5.15. Those nine forces sit above the national rate of 5.04.

The lowest rates belong to Dyfed-Powys, then Norfolk at 1.48, Cumbria at 1.50, North Wales at 1.67 and North Yorkshire at 1.73. Norfolk’s rate is about one sixth of the Metropolitan Police rate, and Norfolk also cut its offences by 14.9% to 1,397.

The Metropolitan Police area holds 14.7% of the population of England and Wales (9,107,300 of 62,010,000 residents) and 27.0% of the vehicle offences. Its total still fell 9.4% from a year earlier.

Gwent Rose 19.9% and Several Other Forces Followed

Not every force shared the fall. Gwent recorded 3,100 vehicle offences, up 19.9%, the sharpest rise among the forces in the table. Nottinghamshire climbed 11.6% to 5,504 and Humberside 11.5% to 3,658. Devon and Cornwall rose 9.9% to 3,489, Northamptonshire 9.1% to 3,803, Gloucestershire 6.2% to 2,428 and Lincolnshire 5.4% to 2,227. Wales as a whole rose 2.5% to 11,100, while England fell 6.9% to 299,813.

A rise in a small force can look dramatic and still involve few cars. Gwent’s 19.9% is 3,100 offences against about 2,585 a year earlier, a difference of roughly 515 across a whole force area. The Metropolitan Police area fell by 9.4%, about 8,800 fewer offences, so read the percentage and the count together.

Cleveland is the case to watch for anyone in the north east. Its offences edged up 2.2% to 3,508, and its rate of 5.85 per 1,000 residents is already the fifth highest in the country. Northumbria rose 1.6% to 6,671 and Durham 4.4% to 2,567.

The biggest falls came in places that were not at the top of the rate table. West Mercia dropped 21.4% to 3,175 offences and Leicestershire 21.2% to 5,120. North Yorkshire fell 19.2% to 1,468, Sussex 17.7% to 5,125 and Warwickshire 15.6% to 3,196. South Yorkshire cut offences by 10.9% to 10,019 and still holds a rate of 6.98, the third highest, so a large fall from a high base leaves the risk high.

Why a Rate Per Resident Can Mislead a City Driver

A rate per 1,000 residents divides offences by the people who live in an area. It leaves out the commuters, shoppers and visitors who park there, yet offences against their cars sit in the total. The ONS table notes say the numbers are affected by the size of the resident population relative to the transient or visiting population, so a rate can make a busy area look worse than the risk to the people who live there. Read the figure as offences per resident, and not as the chance that your own car is hit.

The ONS also publishes a second measure. Its Crime Survey for England and Wales asks households about their own experience, including offences never reported. The survey estimated 608,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year to June 2026, down from 649,000, which is nearly twice the number police recorded. It put the share of vehicle-owning households that were victims at 2.7%, about 1 in 37, against 2.9% a year earlier. Attempted thefts of and from vehicles rose to 146,000 from 129,000 in the survey.

The gap between 312,231 and 608,000 has a plain reading. The survey counts incidents that households describe to interviewers, including offences never reported to police, and it counts attempts. It leaves out crimes against businesses, public bodies and tourists, while the police total covers every recorded offence.

The two measures do different jobs. Police recorded crime covers a broader range of offences and populations than the survey and is the main source for local crime statistics. That is why a force-by-force comparison comes from police data, while the survey is the better guide to long-term theft trends.

What Cuts Your Own Risk, Wherever You Live

Crime prevention advice published by Frodsham Town Council in Cheshire starts with where the car sits. Park in well lit, busier areas, and choose a car park with Park Mark accreditation. At home, block a keyless or higher value vehicle in or use collapsible bollards. Take valuables out of the car or hide them, close the windows and sunroof, and lock up every time, and leave nothing on show, not even a few coins.

Keyless cars need extra steps. The same advice says thieves can intercept the signal from a key from a few metres away, so keep keys well away from the car, put them in a signal blocking Faraday pouch and, where the fob allows it, turn off its wireless signal when it is not in use. Check by hand that the car has locked before walking away, as devices exist that jam the key signal. Keep keys out of sight and away from doors and windows, as thieves can retrieve keys through a letterbox. The same guidance warns that thieves need the original key or access to the keyless signal, and will commit a burglary to get a key. The report on relay theft attempts among keyless car owners covers how common the method is.

A visible lock adds a second barrier. The advice recommends a Sold Secure steering wheel, gear lever or clutch pedal device. In 2018 Mark Silvester of the West Midlands Police crime reduction team said: “A steering lock can make a huge difference in keeping your car out of the hands of crooks.” Keep the key to the steering lock apart from the main set of car keys. Buying a second hand car brings one more job, which is to reprogramme the keys.

A tracker works after the theft rather than before it, and the figures on recovery rates for cars with a tracker show how much that second layer is worth.

Check your own force before you decide how much of this to do. The guide on how to protect your car covers a survey of drivers hit by vehicle crime and adds more protection steps. If you live in Gwent, Nottinghamshire, Humberside, Devon and Cornwall or Northamptonshire, the local trend is rising while the national one falls. If you park in the Metropolitan Police area, in West Midlands Police territory or in South Yorkshire, the rate per resident is 6.98 or higher, so apply every layer above.

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