Car crime hotspots in the UK revealed: Birmingham, Leeds and Newham top the list
Wed, 29 Jul 2026
New data has revealed the UK's car crime hotspots, with full-year figures from all 43 police forces across England and Wales showing that Birmingham tops the table for vehicle crime.
UK private number plate specialist Regtransfers took it upon itself to analyse police.uk records from April 2025 to March 2026, looking for any instances of "theft from or of a vehicle, or interference with a vehicle", as per the police's description of such crimes.
Birmingham tops car crime list
The data revealed no fewer than 285,182 vehicle crimes during the 12-month period analysed, with Birmingham recording by far the most, with 12,092 instances recorded. That's more than twice as many as Leeds, in second place at 5898 recorded crimes, with Newham in third at 4325 instances.
Regtransfers also adjusted the data for population, giving figures for vehicle crimes per 1000 people, which showed that Kensington and Chelsea was the hottest of spots.
The 144,518 residents of the London borough experienced 2242 vehicle crimes, giving a figure of 15.51 crimes per 1000 residents – more than 50% higher than Birmingham's rate of 10.22.
In fact, London boroughs make up seven of the top 10 areas for vehicle crime when adjusted for population, with Haringey (12.11), Newham (11.55), Enfield (11.03) and Ealing (10.88) following Kensington and Chelsea in making up the top five.
Where do crimes happen?
The police data reveals which streets are the most likely to experience a vehicle crime. Bedfont Court in Hillingdon recorded 105 crimes in a year, or 8.75 crimes per month – the highest average monthly vehicle crime rate of any specific location in England and Wales, some 5.9 times the national street average of 1.48.
Connaught Road in Newham was second with 80 crimes in a year – or 6.67 per month – and New Road in Havering tied in third place with Lake View in Doncaster on 59 crimes, equating to 5.35 per month.
The data revealed that general car parks are the most affected places, with 10,386 crimes nationally, followed by 4458 crimes in supermarket car parks, plus 3804 at filling stations stations.
Schools, colleges and other educational buildings accounted for 1174 vehicle crimes, while hospitals recorded 857.
"These figures are a sobering reminder that vehicle crime remains a very real problem across England and Wales – and that it does not always confine itself to areas you might expect," says Regtransfers' CEO Mark Trimbee.
"While looking at these numbers, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that every incident represents a real person returning to find their vehicle broken into, damaged, or stolen – which can be an extremely distressing experience in a number of ways beyond the financial."
