About Magazine Issue 15

Fighting Back!

It's one of the hottest crimes in the town, you probably know at least one person who's been a victim to it, and it costs Sussex around £10million per year....

...it's car crime and you can stop it increasing.

In January this year, Hastings Observer, the Council and the police joined forces to create the DON'T campaign. This is to encourage people to report, be vigilant against and adopt a zero tolerance attitude towards car crime and work towards making Hastings & St Leonards a car crime free area.

Don't Display

Specially designed car tags were handed out and are available in shops across the town. They remind the vehicle owner not to leave anything in the car that might attract thieves, and then spell out a clear message that the there is nothing of value in the car. When did you last leave loose change in your car on view, or a coat on the back seat? Just something as small as that is an open invitation to thieves.

Cubit Scheme

At the time of going to print a four week clamping scheme funded by Hastings Council, Sussex Police and supported by the DVLA was taking place and 120 cars had been crushed in 2 weeks.

The statistics

• In just 5 years the number of abandoned cars which are reported to the Council has increased from 531 to 2,874 and during 2001 3,430 were reported - that works out at about 10 cars per day.
• In two years 2,102 cars were removed from the streets. At a cost of around £30 per car that totals £63,060 of Council Tax payers' money.
• At the moment, the Council uses the DVLA to trace the owners of abandoned cars - but 90% are not registered so there is no way of making them pay the cost of removal.
• During 2000/01 there were 2,100 reports of theft from vehicles. But not all thefts are reported and the figure could be far higher - that works out at around 8 thefts per day.

Making a difference

The Council has put together a three year strategy to try and tackle the problems of car crime and now has a Car Crime Reduction Coordinator who is working with the Police and other agencies including car dealers to try and prevent car crime.

Councillor Trevor Webb, Cabinet Member responsible for Community Safety, said:

"We are working far more closely with the Police and other organisations to tackle car crime."

"With the help of the Hastings Observer we hope that people in the town will help us to make a difference and reduce vehicle crime."

Crimestoppers

You can call Crimestoppers anonymously to report anything suspicious or if you have any information that might help the police. You can call Crimestoppers FREE on 0800 555 111.

Back to top of page...

< Hastings.... Sierra Leone | Play Street for Farley Bank >