Overview
- House of Commons Library figures for the year to June 2025 logged 121,825 vehicles reported stolen, with 92,958 cases closed without a suspect, a 76.3% unsolved rate.
- The Metropolitan Police posted the highest proportion of unsolved investigations at 88.5%, with British Transport Police, South Yorkshire, City of London, Sussex and Warwickshire also above 80%.
- Across 35 of 44 forces, more than 60% of car theft probes ended without an identified suspect, underscoring a national investigative shortfall.
- The Liberal Democrats called for a specialist National Crime Agency unit that would pool ANPR, insurance, police intelligence and border data to target organised car-crime networks.
- The Home Office highlighted a 12% fall in vehicle crime and a 7% drop in vehicle theft year-on-year, citing new legislation outlawing electronic bypass devices with penalties of up to five years and additional police training.