More stolen vehicles being recovered but Barnet residents urge MP to press for tougher police action against organised car theft gangs

Police failures which have led to the Borough of Barnet becoming a London hot spot for gangs stealing cars provoked a heated debate at a summit on car theft held by the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson.

A line-up of speakers which included a government minister, police inspector, Barnet councillor and specialists in tackling crime was accused of offering little more than platitudes and excuses.

A show of hands had indicated that a high proportion of the audience had been the victims of car theft.

They queued up to complain about what they judged was a lack of interest and an inadequate response by the authorities.

Mr Tomlinson (above, far right) acknowledged the anger of aggrieved constituents despite assurances from the government, police, local councils and car manufacturers they were increasing cooperation to co-ordinating their response.

As a result, more stolen cars were now being recovered.

“But I understand the strength of feelings about the police not tackling these organised crime gangs,” said Mr Tomlinson, who faced a line of audience members demanding answers.

When several of those who spoke out said that all they had been offered at the summit were the same lame excuses, their rebuke was greeted with jeers and applause in support.

Mr Tomlinson faced his critics head on.

“I know how aggrieved you are, and I hear your complaint that not enough is being done to go after these gangs. I take that flack. We must push the government, and the agencies involved to do much more.

“There is currently no nationally scaled task force to match the organised crime groups and that is what we need to go after the car thieves.”

He said his aim for the constituency was to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in car theft by 2028 – and he would be checking the statistics every six months.

Mr Tomlinson’s car theft summit, held at the Jewish Community Secondary School in New Barnet (7.7.2025), opened with his presentation of a stark statistic: 574 cars were stolen in the eight wards of the Chipping Barnet constituency during 2023, that meant ten or so were being stolen every week.

This was one of the highest rates for car theft in London.

He had been made aware of the extent of this organised crime when canvassing to become MP as in street after street people told him about their cars being stolen.

Barnet, as an outer London suburb, was particularly susceptible to car thefts because of its proximity to the M25 and other main roads which made it easier move stolen vehicles.

Many were taken to what were known as chop shops where they were broken down into sections and parts and then exported in containers for re-assembly in Africa, the Middle East or countries like Russia.

Inspector Kem Ofo, (above with Councillor Sara Conway) — who is responsible for car theft prevention and investigation in the eastern half of the borough — said the police believed there were currently no chop shops within Barnet although one in Edgware was discovered and closed last year.

He reminded the audience that in 50 per cent of thefts the vehicle had been left unlocked, and he urged the installation of steering wheel immobilisers and disc locks

Recently there had been funding for a week of targeted action on car thefts which had resulted in 40 arrests and the recovery of 20 stolen vehicles – an operation which Mr Tomlinson hoped could be repeated if funding could be found.

After an explanation from Inspector Ofo as to how the police were making better use of tracker devices, Mr Tomlinson said it was clear more needed to be done to speed up the sharing of information about stolen vehicles within the force.

Often stolen vehicles were parked nearby for a day or so while the thieves waited to see if they were being tracked and were then driven away with cloned number plates.

When challenged as to why the police often failed to follow up householders’ door cam footage of cars being stolen, the head of the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, Sharon Naughton, said the tough reality was that there was not the manpower to go through all the CCTV and door cam footage being offered by members of the public.

“This is all about the level of policing which the country can afford. Threats to life, risk, harm and vulnerability especially to women and children – these threats all come above vehicle crime.”

Councillor Sara Conway, who is Barnet council member for community safety and chair of the safer communities partnership, said that in the last two years since Labour took control the council had spent £3million improving the borough’s CCTV infrastructure to strengthen support for the police in tackling vehicle-related criminal activity.

In 2023, Barnet’s CCTV cameras were not working for 70 per cent of the time. Only 27 out of 127 cameras were operational.  Now there were over 700 operational CCTV cameras across the borough and extensive coverage around transport hubs.

The opening speaker at the summit was Dame Diana Johnson, minister for crime and policing, who said the government hoped new legislation would be in place by the end of the year.

Electronic devices used to unlock cars – which were used in 40 per cent of thefts – would be banned and become illegal. The police would be able to take action against people supplying or using such equipment.

There would also be a quicker recovery power to allow police to enter and search premises without a warrant if they believed vehicles or parts were being hidden.

The government had established a national vehicle crime reduction partnership to tackle what she described as these “ruthless, sophisticated, and professional organised crime groups” and funding had been provided to increase the interception of stolen vehicles at the ports.

PC Adam Gibson, who is assigned to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service – which is funded by finance and leasing companies – described his work at ports such as Felixstowe and Harwich intercepting containers packed with stolen vehicles heading overseas.

Four or five suspect containers were stopped every week. There could be as many as five cars packed in one container. Sometimes there might be as many as 18, all broken up into parts. One container had contained three cars stolen from the same street.

Last year they had recovered 427 whole cars and 105 chopped up cars, together worth £22 million.

To help protect constituents with valuable cars, Mr Tomlinson had arranged for a 25 per cent discount on the cost of high radio frequency trackers supplied by the Tracker technology network whose managing director Mark Rose described the success of the latest technology.

Unlike most existing trackers which could be jammed – and which had an average car recovery rate of 30 per cent – the high radio frequency technology was producing a 95 per cent rate of recovery.

In the first six months of the year, Tracker had recovered 835 vehicles worth £25 million.  Police cars were connected to the new tracking system and 50 per cent of cars were being recovered in four hours and 80 per cent within 24 hours.

Greg Culshaw, general manager of customer support at Toyota, said that since 2021 their cars had been fitted with new software which could be updated remotely, and which was reducing car theft.

Toyota had installed Tracker devices free of charge in 50,000 cars and was working in partnership with Tracker and the police.

The 25 per cent discount for Chipping Barnet constituents for the installation of Tracker technology is available at www.tracker.co.uk using code TRACKER25.