Vehicle Theft

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Westminster Hall

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the matter of vehicle theft.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. Data commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows that since the start of 2025 115,448 instances of vehicle theft have been recorded across England and Wales. Home Office data shows that vehicle theft has risen by 75% in the past decade. Even accounting for the increased number of cars on our roads, theft rates have risen from 2.71 to 4.42 cases per 1,000 privately owned cars. To put those figures into perspective, that is one vehicle stolen in England and Wales every four minutes. According to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, 357,000 cars and vans have been stolen in the last five years alone.

In 2025-26, Hampshire and Isle of Wight constabulary recorded 2,408 cases of vehicle theft. Although that represents a slight decrease from the year before, when 2,455 cases were recorded, it remains far too many. Local police have told me that vehicle theft is increasing in my constituency. Car theft is not a victimless crime: behind every statistic is a person whose life has been disrupted.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing forward the debate. In 2025, 154 aggravated vehicle-taking offences were recorded across Northern Ireland. Stolen vehicles are often driven dangerously, which places the public and emergency services at risk. In June 2026, a man was charged with attempted murder in Downpatrick after a stolen police car was driven at an officer, leaving him with serious injuries. Does the hon. Lady agree that we must do more to deter individuals from engaging in aggravated vehicle theft, including by having harsher penalties, which are necessary to reduce these offences, thereby protecting the public?

[Liz Jarvis]

The hon. Member makes a good point.

This is also about the human impact of these crimes. I have heard from constituents, including NHS workers who have not been able to get to work or do the school run because their car vanished overnight. In one case, a couple told me that they saw a van pull up outside their property, and then someone get out and simply drive their car away. In April this year two constituents woke up to find that their brand-new car had been stolen while they slept. The insurance payout did not cover the real cost of a like-for-like replacement. The feeling of intrusion was significant for my constituents, whose sense of personal safety and security have been violated by the thoughtless crime that took place just metres from where they slept. The emotional toll was difficult for them both, and being without a car for several weeks was very disruptive: they had to cancel hospital appointments and other commitments, including collecting their grandchildren from school.

For tradespeople, the impact can be even more direct. A van is stolen every 52 minutes in this country, taking with it the tools of someone’s trade and their ability to earn a living. For many of my constituents, there is not always a bus to fall back on. With the 61 bus service cut in late 2025, there is one less option for residents who no longer have a car to rely on. Losing a car to theft leaves people feeling exposed and unsafe in their own homes. Their sense of security, once lost, is hard to win back.

To understand why this crisis is accelerating, we need to look at how these thefts are being carried out. The methods being used today bear little resemblance to the car thefts of a decade ago. The most common method now is relay theft, where criminals used a signal amplifier to capture a key fob signal from inside the owner’s home and then relay it to a device held next to the car. That tricks the vehicle into unlocking and starting without the key being present. Another method is controller area network bus injection, which involves physically accessing the vehicle’s onboard computer through an exposed entry point, using plug-in devices disguised as harmless electronics.

What should concern us most is how accessible this technology has become. These are not improvised tools: devices targeting high-end vehicles can sell for more than £20,000, so there is a serious criminal market built around vehicle theft.