The best and worst locations in Scotland for car crimes have been laid bare in a new report.
Motoring safety experts, Road Angel, have crunched the numbers to reveal which areas have the highest rate of vehicle crime in Scotland.
During 2021-22, Scottish police forces received 4,512 reports of vehicle crime- an increase from the previous year where there were 4,311 reports.
Vehicle crime includes the theft of a vehicle, theft from a vehicle, or damage to a car.
Car owners can now see where their council area ranks on the list, including North, East and South Ayrshire.
Dundee City has been named the ‘most dangerous’ area to own a vehicle in Scotland, with the largest car crime rate, averaging 16 per 10,000 residents.
The city of Edinburgh has a significantly higher crime count than Dundee, with 670 offences recorded by the police force, but compared to its larger population it comes in at second on the rankings.
East Ayrshire ranks twelfth on the list of 32 councils areas, with 102 recorded offences in 2021-2022, with a crime rate averaging eight per 10,000 residents.
North Ayrshire had 74 recorded offences, making the council area number 17 on the list.
And South Ayrshire’s Vehicle Crime Count saw 69 recorded offences, coming in at number 18 on the list.
Both North and South Ayrshire tallied a crime rate averaging six per 10,000 residents.
The data reveals that the ‘safest area’ in Scotland is Orkney Islands, which had just 2 cases over the course of a year.
Gary Digva, the founder of Road Angel, said even vehicle owners in areas deemed safer, like the three Ayrshire councils, should “remain vigilant as vehicle offences are on the rise.”
Gary added: “Always ensure that windows are up, the doors are locked, and your keys are safe and secure.
“Investing in dashcams is also a good idea, especially models with the ‘parking mode’ feature, which can monitor vehicles while stationary through sensors that start recording if they detect a disturbance automatically, and 24 hours a day.
“Dashcams can act as a deterrent, making criminals think twice before snooping around people’s cars or inflicting significant damage.”
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