Sheffield has seen a recent spate in car crime with the South West area of the city alone seeing a 53.3% increase in vehicle damage and thefts from 2021 to 2022.
According to statistics from the crime map published by the official Police.UK website there were 1,093 acts of vehicle crime committed in the South West region of Sheffield in 2022, constituting for 9.5% of all crime in this area.
These figures outline a clear increase compared with 2021 when there were 713 acts of vehicle crime reported.
The figures for the South East district of Sheffield and Central and North West Sheffield were even more bleak with 1,958 and 1,448 cases of vehicle damage and theft in 2022 respectively.
One victim, Jay Saggerson, who lives on Nettleham Road in Woodseats, published a Facebook post, detailing how his car was the subject of a hit and run.
His Renault saloon was struck on the 15th of February by an unknown person driving a VW Polo or Golf, and has been deemed a complete write off.
He wrote: “My car has been a ‘total loss’ with my insurance, and has been economically written off.”
Jay is appealing for anyone who may have nearby CCTV footage to come forward.
In response to the influx in similar incidents, Sheffield Police targeted vehicle crime in its latest ‘Operation Steel’ on the 15th of February.
Throughout the course of the day 10 stop searches were carried out, a vehicle was seized due to being driven with no licence or insurance and one person was reported for driving whilst using a mobile phone.
Acting Sergeant Annabelle Hakes from the Sheffield City Centre Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “We know how distressing it can be if your vehicle is stolen, or if it is damaged and items are stolen from it, and we have a range of positive, proactive work taking place across the city centre, which sees us work alongside our proactive teams and partners to carry out engagement and enforcement activity.”
Sheffield Police intend to regularly run similar operations throughout the year with a different focus each time.
