§ Mr. Staintonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will circulate in the Official Report details available to his Department on the amount of thefts from cars parked in car parks, including multistorey car parks; and if, failing better anti-theft precautions by operators of such parks, he will take steps to improve security for vehicle owners.
§ Mr. BrittanThere were 293,667 offences of thefts from a vehicle recorded by the police in England and Wales in 1978. We have no information about the number of these thefts which were from cars parked in car parks. While we hope that operators of car parks will take reasonable precautions to limit the opportunities for theft, each car user also has the responsibility to take precautions against theft from his vehicle by closing the windows, locking the doors removing or hiding any valuable property.