A national shortage of car parts is fuelling a spike in vehicle thefts, a top cop is warning.
Criminals are increasingly stealing cars not to sell them - but to strip them and sell them for parts.
Superintendent Jim Munro of West Midlands Police is telling motorists that even leaving vehicles left in car parks for only a few minutes can pose a risk.
There were 88,915 car thefts during the 12 year to March 7 - that's a theft every six minutes, according to PA news agency.
The figures come from data recorded by 34 police forces.
The worst-hit regions for car thefts are South Yorkshire (up 28%), City of London (up 25%), West Midlands (up 19%), Surrey (up 12%), Merseyside (up 4%) and Greater Manchester (up 1%).
The UK is seeing a shortage of car parts because factories around the world shut during Covid-19 lockdowns, leading to a backlog of orders.
To make things worse, there is also a global shortage of semiconductor chips - used in car electronics.
Superintendent Munro said: "What we've seen over the pandemic is there are some issues around parts supply coming into the motor industry and delays with builds.
"What we've seen in the West Midlands is likewise what we've seen across the piece nationally - there is a desire for certain vehicle parts, and this is fuelling the theft of motor vehicle crimes."
Stolen cars are often taken to 'chop shops' where they can be broken down within hours of the theft.
Munro warned drivers that some thieves use special gadgets to help pinch cars.
He said "They're using devices in order to block signals where people are trying to lock their cars with their fobs.
"When you're locking your vehicle, make sure that vehicle is locked, that the signal is not being blocked, no matter how long you're leaving the vehicle for.
"Whether it's just to pop into the shop, make sure your car is always secure."
And it is not just expensive cars being targeted.
Munro said common cars are normally the ones stolen for parts, because of the high demand for repairs.
He added these have “a particular high value because of the amount of people that want those”.
Last month The Mirror reported a driver stole back her own Land Rover after outsmarting thieves by using a nifty GPS trick.
Jo Coombs was heartbroken after waking up to find the vehicle gone from outside her home in Battersea, London.
The car is always left in a private car park, protected by large black gates. But to her horror her Land Rover Discovery wasn't there - and she didn't wait for police to try and track it down.
She set about trying to get it back using her smartphone and her plan worked perfectly.
Jo remembered her insurance policy came with a GPS tracker, a tool that that calculates the miles you drive every month.
You can easily track all your drives - and that's just what she did.
She said: "I could see that my car was taken at 04:34, driven a mile away. Parked for 40 minutes. Driven again another mile. Parked.
"This continued a few times until eventually it was parked 1.9 miles from home. And it hadn’t moved since.
"I called the police again. They told me to get my keys and go and reclaim my car. I had thought they would go, but no apparently it was quicker if I did."
The thieves even changed her number plate - but she knew it was her car, and took it back home.
