Public warned to be vigilant by Rushcliffe Police after catalytic converter thefts
Rushcliffe South Police are warning the public to be vigilant after seeing a number of reports of catalytic converter thefts in the Rushcliffe area over the last two or three months.
The vehicles targeted so far have been small Toyota and Honda cars, whereas historically it has been 4x4 type vehicles, with higher ground clearance, that have been targeted.
A cat, as it is also known, forms part of the exhaust system underneath the vehicle. These thefts happen very quickly, within the space of minutes during daytime hours.
Offences have been mainly in public car parks, including the mini park and ride car park near Cotgrave and car parks near the airfield on Tollerton Lane in Tollerton.
In order to steal these items from the smaller cars, the vehicle needs to be jacked up so the offenders to get underneath the cars to remove the converter.
There was one occasion where the offenders were approached by a member of the public while the offence was in progress, with the offenders claiming they were changing a wheel on the car.
A spokesman for Rushcliffe South Police said: "Please be vigilant when using car parks, if you see anyone jacking a car up in a public car park, please observe and do not hesitate to ring 999 if you think it is suspicious.
"Please also note a registration number, make model and type of vehicle the offenders are using and a description of the offenders if you can.
"Please also make sure that you do not leave any items on display in your vehicle, even a coat or jacket left on show may tempt someone to break into your vehicle.
"Many of these locations do have CCTV cameras installed; we do look at CCTV footage from these locations to assist our enquiries."
For more information on how to make your vehicle safe, visit Nottinghamshire Police's online advice sheet around catalytic convertor thefts at www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/advice/prevention
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