"CASH FOR CRASH" - TOP 20 HOTSPOTS

Staged Car Crashes Cost the UK £200million

Cash for crash car insurance fraudsters are endangering the lives of innocent UK motorists and costing the industry over £200million a year. Furthermore, this cost is directly passed on to car insurance customers, bumping up the average car insurance premium by an estimated £50.

Working in organised crime rings, these fraudsters are netting hundreds of millions of pounds a year at the expense and risk of the innocent road user.

The gangs use the proceeds of their crimes to fund drug trafficking, gun running, immigration fraud and even, it has been suggested, to finance Muslim extremist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sue Baker, head of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, the body charged with investigating these cases, said: "This is not just a crime where greedy people are lining their own pockets and driving around in flash cars and buying nice houses. It's the more sinister uses to which the money is being put."

Police warn that vigilance is needed as this wave of potentially fatal criminal activity spreads across the country. Whilst arrests and convictions have been made, the law enforcement agencies have barely cratched the surface.

Typically, fraudsters will drive to a busy road junction then perform unexpected and dangerous emergency stops, designed to cause the innocent motorist to crash into them. Claims are then made to the innocent motorists' insurance company, frequently including several fictitious injury reports from members of the criminal gang. Often, they will claim for injuries relating to people who weren't even present and use each others names to do so. Another common trick, is to remove the brake lights of the offending vehicle, making it even more likely that a crash will occur.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau

Since its formation in July 2006, the IFB has been instrumental in helping the police make nearly 300 arrests of people endangering the lives of motorists in their attempts to defraud insurers. Three police operations resulted in 29 convictions and combined prison sentences of over 20 years. These efforts are pleasing, but only represent a fraction of the this growing problem.

The IFB currently has 25 active joint police operations spread across 13 UK police forces.

John Beadle, Chairman of the IFB comments:

"The criminal gangs targeting honest motorists are ruthless. Innocent lives are being put at risk and fraudulent insurance claims add approximately £40-£50 to every premium paid by honest policy holders each year. Left unchecked these criminal networks grow rapidly, split and even franchise smaller networks which in turn grow prolifically".

"We must continue to take a rigorous approach to dealing with this significant national problem which is impacting on many towns and cities across the UK. Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime, criminals must be brought to justice. We urge anyone with information on insurance fraud to call the Bureau's free and confidential Cheatline on 0800 328 2550 or report online at

http://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/report

Reprinted below is the IFB top twenty areas of the UK affected by "Cash for crash" crimes.

The Bureau also produce a useful free leaflet which gives advice to the UK motorist on how to protect yourself from these fraudsters.


To download a copy of this leaflet click here.


Nice 1 Limited conduct analysis of vehicle crime in the UK and employ former police officers with many years of experience in accident investigation and vehicle theft. For more information, please contact us from the details in the contact panel or read more of our articles from the archives on these pages.


The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

NICE 1 PRESS RELEASE VIA PR LOG ISSUED

View press release by clicking this link :-

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CAR CRIME UK - FREE Car Security Checker

FREE ONLINE CAR SECURITY CHECK

The team at Nice 1, providers of Theft Protect Replacement Vehicle Insurance, are delighted to provide access to a great new resource for UK motorists that is totally FREE.

Type a postcode and registration number into this free online tool, confirm the vehicle make and model, and you are then presented with a security rating for that car and the location it is kept.

This solves the age old mystery for UK motorists – how to get free access to information about how safe from crime their vehicle is, or how safe the vehicle they are planning to buy is, according to the area where it’s parked in and the type of vehicle it is.

CHECK CAR SECURITY NOW – CLICK THIS LINK

This unique tool also provides the ABI security ranking, and explains how that system rates male and female drivers according to age. Few people know that a female under 24 or a male under 30 will get discounts for driving vehicles between one and 20 ABI groups. Insurance will go up rapidly after ABI 20, and most insurers will decline above ABI 33. Females over 24 will get discounts for driving vehicles between one and 33 ABI and insurance will go up rapidly after ABI 33. Males over 30 will get discounts for driving vehicles between one and 33 ABI and insurance will go up rapidly after 33.

The security rating is an estimate based on government and industry vehicle crime data. The data is combined to take account of where the vehicle is kept overnight, the vehicle's theft desirability and manufactured security. Scores range from 'excellent' - nine stars or more - to 'extremely poor' - one star. An 'excellent' score has an approximate probability of less than 1-in-1000 chance of being stolen, broken into or vandalised over the year and 'extremely poor' has a greater than 1-in-10 chance."

The tool draws its data from the ABI and the Thatcham vehicle security site. Thatcham is the research and development unit owned by the UK insurance industry.

So, whether you are thinking of buying a new car, getting or renewing your car insurance, or you simply want to find out how secure your car is, click the link below or to the right of the page.

CHECK CAR SECURITY NOW – CLICK THIS LINK

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THE TOP 10 SAFEST & RISKIEST PLACES FOR CAR THEFT - CAR CRIME UK 2009

double click the map to see it larger then hit back button to return here

The team at Nice 1 Limited regularly produce car crime information for the UK motoring public and to assist the marketing efforts of our authorised Theft Protect agents.

For the first time in the UK, Nice 1 are delighted to produce the 2009 Car Crime figures by Post Code area. The information contained on the map above and tables below is extracted from the full Home Office statistics. Insurance companies and intermediaries frequently publish similar data, however, their data is only drawn from the sample of their own customers.

The information reprinted here is the most accurate and current information compiled from the car crime incidents recorded by the UK police forces. Full UK car crime data is available, both as incident counts per town or city, and as the detail below, on the basis of a count per 1000 head of population. The national average for car theft is around 7 per 1000. The map and tables below provide an indication as to the vulnerability to car theft offences in the safest and riskest places in the UK.

THE TOP 10 RISKIEST PLACES FOR CAR THEFT

THE TOP 10 SAFEST PLACES FOR CAR THEFT

Nice 1 Ltd collate car crime statistics from Home Office and police sources in order to provide the UK motoring public with the most accurate picture of car crime across the country and in specific areas. In addition to the offences per head of population, information is also gathered about the number of incidents recorded per town and city. Further details may be requested by e mail at the contact address at the foot of the page or by clicking the contact me button elsewhere on these pages.

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UK Crime 2008/09 - At A Glance Part 2 Burglary

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DOMESTIC BURGLARY ON THE RISE !

IT MAY BE YOUR CAR THEY'RE AFTER

The crime analysis team at Nice 1 present a post code visual map of the burglaries reported to the police in 2008/09.

Post code areas shown in red experience a significantly higher than average incident rate of burglary. Areas shown in amber experience, at best, average levels. Areas in white experience average or below levels of burglary.

The 2008/09 the Home Office survey shows there were an estimated 744,000 domestic burglary incidents in England and Wales. The number of domestic burglaries with entry to the property and attempted burglaries for 2008/09 is estimated by the survey at 452,000 burglaries with entry and 292,000 attempted burglaries.

The number of police recorded domestic burglaries rose by one per cent to 284,445 offences.

The Home Office estimates that only 65 per cent of domestic burglaries were reported to the police and that burglaries with loss were most likely to be reported.

These figures support previous articles from the Nice 1 team, highlighting the disparity between the Home Office survey and the actual incidents reported to police. Assuming the Home Office survey figures are correct, whn factored into the recorded burglary numbers, the rise in burglary is significantly higher than the 1% reported.

CAR KEY BURGLARY

A Parliamentary answer given by former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith confirmed that over 15,700 cars disappeared when keys were stolen during a burglary and a further 2,900 drivers were robbed to obtain keys by, for example, mugging, pickpocketing or carjacking. The improvements in car security and the increased risk of capture when breaking into vehicles has led the UK car criminal to up the stakes and break into homes to steal vehicle keys. This trend is increasing around the UK and the Nice 1 team will provide regular updates from these pages.

To see a detailed report on the effect of Car Key Theft on the statistical reporting of car crime, click here or look for Car Key Theft in the crime analysis report links opposite.

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UK Crime 2008/09 - At A Glance - Part 1 Car Crime

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"A PICTURE PAINTS A 1000 WORDS!"

The crime analysis team at Nice 1 Limited are delighted to be the first to present the "real picture" of car crime in the UK, compiled from the recently released Home Office crime figures.

In the first of the series, we look at car crime as it was recorded by the 43 police forces of England & Wales* for the 2008/09 financial year.

Previous articles from these pages and the other Nice 1 sites have commented on the disparity between the two sets of Home Office crime statistics that reflect an under reporting of all categories of crime. See previous posts for details.

The Nice 1 team, starting with Home Office source data, have amalgamated the correct population figures for each of the 376 local authority districts, and allocated the crime statistics to the post codes of the areas concerned. From this, we were able to produce, for the first time, a post code map of the UK highlighting the Car Crime hotspots.

This visual representation is unique in that it portrays the statitics more clearly. Please remember though, that this is the "best case" scenario, in light of the under reporting, and under allocation issues previously reported.

In the map above, the areas marked in red suffered significantly higher than average levels of car crime in 2008/09. Areas in amber were at best, in line with the national average. Areas in white encountered lower levels of car crime than average. The map should be read in line with the previous statistical reports, showing the number of incidents and the frequency of offences per 1000 head of population. (The Nice 1 Team do not believe this is the most accurate method for calculating frequency, and we are concluding our report that combines theft incidents with vehicles licensed on UK roads for the period, which is a more accurate representation).

Future visual crime mapping will include anlysis of key police recorded incidents including:-

• Burglary
• Violence against the person
• Robbery
• Other Theft Offences
• Fraud & Forgery
• Criminal Damage

The Nice 1 Team are happy to assist you, should you require further information about the extent and trends of crime in your area. To contact us, click the 'contact me' button, or see the contact details at the foot of the page.

Businesses involved in car insurance, motor sales, finance and security are welcome to contact us for more information on how our crime analysis can help you with your marketing efforts.

To sign up for updates as they appear on these pages, complete your details in the e mail link to the right of this article.

To view other articles with news content about crime in the uk, please visit our consumer site at http://theftprotect.blogspot.com/

The Crime Analysis Team

Nice 1 Limited

*Scotland & Ireland are not included in the police source data

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UK CAR CRIME - TOP 20 LEAGUE TABLE BY DISTRICT

In July 2009, the Home Office published the police recorded crime results for the 2008/09 financial year, co-inciding with the ITV1 six part series "Car Crime UK" being shown at 9pm on Tuesday evenings, presented by Sir Trevor McDonald.

Nice 1 Limited have performed an in depth analysis of the figures, and present this report, the first in a series that examine the results in fine detail, and present them in a more user friendly format.

This first report examines Car Crime in the UK, displaying the results so that the reader can see, at a glance the high, medium and low risk areas for Car Crime.

The report is displayed in descending order of the Car Crime by local authority district. The table above shows the Top 20 Local Authority districts according to police recorded crime.

The full report contains all 376 Local Authority districts in England & Wales. To view the full version click here or the table above.

If we examine the table, we can see that Slough was the worst district for police recorded car crime in 2008/09, with 3.2 times the average rate per 1000 population experienced by the rest of England & Wales. The total crime recorded for Slough is double the national average. The table is sorted in descending order of the districts experiencing the largest % above the national average. Districts higher than 10% of the national average are colour coded red. Districts within 10% of the national average are coloured green. Districts experiencing 10% or less than the national average number of incidents per 1000 of population, are coloured green.

An alternative version of this report sorted alphabetically for easier location of districts can be viewed by clicking here.

This analysis is drawn directly from Home Office & police recorded crime, making it the most accurate representation of car crime during the 2008/09 period.

ANOMALIES OF THE HOME OFFICE FIGURES

However, even this report does not reflect the complete picture. The Home Office method of calculating the rate per 1000 is based on population figures for England & Wales. Vehicle crime must be assessed differently if it is to be accurately analysed. The population of England & Wales during this period was 54 million people. Not all citizens own a vehicle. The number of licensed vehicles for the same period in England & Wales was 30 million. The rate per 1000 would therefore be more accurately reported if expressed as a % of the licensed vehicles rather than population figures.

A separate crime analysis report has been completed to examine the implications of the population based calculations. This report is available online in the links section opposite and will form the basis of a further post shortly.

A further anomaly exists in the way the Home Office collect both police recorded crime and national survey statistics. The survey states that vehicle crime as a whole is under reported by the public by as much as 45%, suggesting that the actual vehicle crime incident rate is considerably higher. Again, this will be examined in more detail in a future report.

The former Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, responded to a question in parliament by the the Shadow Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP. She confirmed that during the period in question, 18,599 car crime offences were reported as either burglary (when premises were entered to steal car keys), or robbery (when keys were taken from victims by force). The implications of this reporting process will be examined in a separate post and report. This report can be viewed by clicking it the links section opposite.

By clicking the table above you will now be able to see the total police recorded incidents of crime and car crime for each of the 376 districts of England & Wales.

Car crime represents 13% of all recorded crime. It is important to understand the implications of this initial report and others referred to in this article. The 10% decrease in car crime appearing in many force and Home Office media articles is likely to be considerably lower, and more likely to reflect an increase on previous years reported crime.

Bookmark this page or enter your e mail address (your privacy will be respected) in the sign up box opposite to receive updates as they happen from this site.

The team at Nice 1 Ltd welcome any enquiries, observations or suggestions that might benefit others, about the analysis reporting posted on these pages. Contact us via the contact me button below this post, or the contact details provided at the foot of the page.

The Crime Analysis Team

Nice 1 Limited Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

Car Crime UK - "At-A-Glance" Analytics

Car Crime UK is the latest creation of the crime analyst team at Nice 1 Ltd in the UK.

The site aims to strip away the mystery that surrounds crime reporting in the UK, by looking more closely at Government and Home Office published statistics on crime and then presenting it in a user friendly format for both the consumer and interested commercial enterprises.

Whilst this site will focus on car crime in particular, the very nature of crime analysis involves a degree of cross over between incidents, therefore most, if not all criminal offences will be analysed at varying levels.

ANALYSIS OF CRIME

Whilst statistics do not always make the most interesting reading matter, the trends that they reflect, particularly crime statistics, have a direct bearing on our well being and sense of security in the community.

Crime statistics are collated daily by the 43 police forces of England & Wales. You can see the forces listed in the police news links lower down this page. Under the freedom of information act, forces are obliged to disclose information about crime so that the public have access. However, the police only gather information about recorded crime. There are 164 recordable offences, from murder downwards.

The problem lies in the reporting of crime. The Home Office gather the police force recorded crime data each year and present it in an extremely detailed document, together with the results of an annual survey that canvasses 50,000 UK citizens. If every crime were reported, and categorised accurately, crime statistics and the overview of crime would be clear as crystal.

It is the non reporting of crime, reflected by the Home Office survey that reflects the disparity between crimes experienced and those actually reported. For some offences, only 30% are reported, with the Home Office survey suggesting that the actual crime is probably 40% higher that the recorded cases. The Home Office state that the survey figures are closer to the actual crime experienced, as they are drawn from victims of crime who have often not reported the occurrence. Reasons for non reporting will be analysed and presented through these pages.

Through careful analysis of Home Office datasets, combined with similar in depth information from other government and professional trade sources, the team at Nice 1 are able to produce analytical reports that provide a clearer picture of the true extent of crime in England & Wales.

A GUIDED TOUR

A short video sequence from the recent Car Crime UK program currently being serialised on ITV1 appears at the top of this page. Trevor McDonald presents the program every Tuesday night at 9pm.

The links to the top right of the page take you to the Theft Protect website, which explains the facts and myths of courtesy car provision in the UK, endorsing the product which is sold via UK insurance brokers, motor manufacturers, dealers and finance companies. That is the last sales pitch you will see on these pages!

Below the website links, are direct links to the crime report analysis documents produced by Nice 1 since the release of the crime figures by the Home Office in July. As this is an ongoing, all year round exercise, documents will be added as they are completed, so bookmark this site or click the RSS feeds for regular updates.

In addition to exploring historic data and identifying the trends around the country, we identify the criminal "modus operandi" (M.O.) or method of operations being favoured by UK criminals.

Furthermore, we trawl all the police sites, crime newsfeeds and reliable information sources for criminal activity and relevant statistical data for all regions of the UK. This enables us to provide up-to-date information about all aspects of crime in every geographic district. The uniqueness of this site is that it acts as a central collator of information that would otherwise be a laborious and painstaking process.

Further updates to the site are in progress that will provide current information from these pages to keep you accurately informed.

Also to the right are a series of links to useful articles and documents about keeping your vehicle secure and checking the security rating of any vehicle you might be planning to purchase. The Nice 1 team only source this quality of information from reliable sources such as "Thatcham" the insurance industry funded research unit, and professional, reliable industry sources.

Futher links will apear over the days and weeks to come, with tips on buying your new car and getting the best deals on car insurance. These articles will be independently produced with no financial connection to the any contributors as a result of recommendations from this site.

This article is written in the posting section, where regular news items and announcements about new crime analysis reports will appear. To the lower right, are the news feed links to all 43 police forces in England & Wales, so that you can see the news being reported in your area today!

LET'S GET STARTED!

The crime anlysis reports are a great place to start. Here are a brief few sentences to provide an overview of the reports you can view either from the links opposite or the links below.

• Recorded car crime for the 2008/09 period, reflecting the incident rates and frequency for all 376 geographical districts, sorted in decreasing order of requency click here to view
• Same report as above, sorted alphabetically click here to view
• Report illustrating how "Car Key Theft" being reported as burglary or robbery artificially suppresses the recorded car crime figures. click here to view
• Press release to co-incide with the Car Crime UK program launch and advising of the Nice 1 crime analytics. click here to view
• See how your car rates for security in the most recent Theft Index click here to view
• See how your bike rates for the most recent Bike Theft Index click here to view
• Analysis of the Top 20 areas where the crime trend is increasing click here to view
• Total recorded crime -vs- car crime viewed side by side click here to view
• Comparison of Home Office offence rates (per 1000 pupulation) and the Licensed vehicles in England & Wales in 2008, and its effect on frequency of crime. click here to view
• A full trend analysis of all major crime groups for each of the 376 local districts, measuring the % increase or decrease by district. In short, check your area to see if crime is increasing or decreasing click here to view

Having read an analysis, we would welcome any questions, enquiries or suggestions that might assist others. If we can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to e mail us from any of the links on these pages.

If you would like to see more articles about car crime around the UK, visit our consumer site by clicking here.

Kind Regards

The Crime Analysis Team

Nice 1 Limited

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