EXCLUSIVE: South Kesteven a Lincolnshire car theft hotspot

Figures found by us show there were 125 incidents of car theft recorded in South Kesteven in 2023 - the second-most out of all areas in the county.

There were 786 stolen cars in Lincolnshire on the whole last year, but only West Lindsey (134) saw more incidents than South Kesteven.

South Kesteven accounted for 16% of the total county-wide incidents, while 58 vehicles were stolen in Stamford alone.

See a full breakdown of car thefts by region in Lincolnshire in 2023:

What do people in South Kesteven make of the area being a car theft hotspot?

These people in Stamford gave us their reaction to the high number of car thefts:

• "There is quite a lot of rural crime and some of that is obviously on cars and some is on farm equipment.'"
• "For a little town like Stamford, to have that much car crime, yeah it does surprise me."
• "I think there's probably some quite expensive cars parked in Stamford quite regularly. Outside of the town centre I think there are some quite desperate people, so it doesn't surprise me very much."
• "It seems quite peaceful and friendly, you get the odd bit of trouble but I wouldn't say there's an issue with car theft."
• "There's too many nice cars around here, our neighbour's car was stolen recently in the middle of the night - so quite a regular occurrence around here."
• "I've been targeted when I had a Mercedes convertible, and it's made me think, maybe I shouldn't have a nice car."

Chief Inspector Jon Shield said: “Lincolnshire Police are committed to stopping crime and antisocial behaviour and vehicle crime is a priority for our teams.

“The data referred to in this request includes all types of vehicles and not just cars, that said we have seen organised criminality target high value vehicles using keyless technology.

“As a result I would like to ask the public for their help in doing everything they can to protect their property and would recommend where possible the use of Faraday bags to protect vehicle keys from criminals trying to access the electronic key code. Also if you see anything suspicious in your community in relation to this type of crime please report it.”

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