Motorists should double check that their cars are locked when they go to the shops, a top police officer has said, warning that thieves are jamming fob signals in retail car parks.

       Superintendent Jim Munro, of West Midlands Police, told drivers not to assume vehicles left in car parks for only a few minutes are safe.

       He said many people wrongly assume their car will be safe when parked for a brief time at a location such as a retail park, believing that most thefts happen outside homes.

       “Criminals are exploiting this,” he explained. “They’re using devices in order to block signals where people are trying to lock their cars with their fobs.

       “When you’re locking your vehicle, make sure that vehicle is locked, that the signal is not being blocked, no matter how long you’re leaving the vehicle for.”

       Link to shortage of vehicle parts

       A surge in vehicle thefts in some parts of the UK has been linked by police to a shortage of car parts.

       Some 88,915 thefts of a vehicle during the 12 months to March 7 were recorded by the 34 police forces that provided full figures in response to Freedom of Information requests.

       That suggests an average of 244 vehicles are being stolen every day - one every six minutes.

       Six force areas recorded an increase in thefts compared with the same period two years earlier.

       They were: South Yorkshire, up 28 per cent; City of London, up 25 per cent; West Midlands, up 19 per cent; Surrey up 12 per cent; Merseyside, up four per cent; and Greater Manchester, up one per cent.

       Factory shutdowns around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic have sparked a shortage of semiconductor chips and other components in countries such as the UK.

       ‘Unauthorised vehicle dismantling’

       Mr Munro said: “What we’ve seen over the pandemic is there are some issues around parts supply coming into the motor industry and delays with builds.

       “What we’ve seen in the West Midlands is likewise what we’ve seen nationally - there is a desire for certain vehicle parts, and this is fuelling the theft of motor vehicle crimes.”

       Mr Munro described the process as “unauthorised vehicle dismantling”.

       He said: “Vehicles are stolen, sometimes taken to nearby industrial units, people will work through the night in industrial areas, and sometimes these vehicles have been stripped in a matter of hours.”

       Mr Munro said there is a correlation between the most common car brands on the road and the models most targeted by thieves, as their parts have “a particular high value because of the amount of people that want those”.