Theft on the Beach: Study Reveals Seaside Hotspots For Vehicle Crime

With summer holiday season almost upon us, sun seekers will be looking forward to loading up the car and heading to the beach, but if there’s one thing that’ll ruin a trip to the seaside more than bad weather, it’s having your car damaged or stolen. 

Especially on a hot day, seaside parking can offer an open invitation to opportunist thieves that take their chances on car owners being away from their vehicles for long periods of time, leading to a spike in car crime.  

To find out which seaside locations experience the highest levels of vehicle theft and criminal damage, Scrap Car Comparison used the Police UK crime map to analyse the number of vehicle crimes reported during 2023, in over 200 coastal locations. 

Which Seaside Locations Are Worst For Vehicle Crime? 

Across all of the seaside locations analysed in the study, the summer months unsurprisingly saw the highest levels of vehicle crime, with an average of 8% more reports made to the police in June, July and August than during any other season. 

Experiencing the most vehicle crimes is Bournemouth, located on the south coast with 493 reports of vehicle crime made to the police during 2023. Being a large, ever-growing seaside town complete with its own university, it‘s to be expected that there will be more vehicle crime in built up areas. However, visitors looking to enjoy Bournemouth’s sandy beach and pier should take extra care when parking their cars.  

Home to another sandy beach and a beautiful stretch of coastline, South Shields ranks as the nation‘s second seaside vehicle crime hotspot, while Bournemouth’s neighbour Poole completed the top three. The gateway to the Jurassic Coast experienced an average of 36 instances of vehicle crime per month in 2023, with reports spiking at the height of summer in August, with 49 reported crimes. 

Which Seaside Locations Experience Minimal Vehicle Crime? 

While the rankings highlight parts of the British coastline that require extra care for motorists leaving their cars behind for a day beside the seaside, it is also no surprise that many are popular seaside resorts in built up areas that naturally bring about higher crime rates. However, on the other end of the scale, there are other popular coastal locations that experience low levels of car theft or criminal damage.  

In particular, it seems the Welsh coast is much less of a stomping ground for thieves than elsewhere in Britain, with multiple seaside locations receiving extremely low reports of vehicle crime during the whole of 2023. This includes the famous Gower Peninsula, which was named the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1956, receiving just one report of vehicle crime during the entirety of 2023. 

Other well visited coastal locations that offer safety-by-the-sea include Norfolk’s Wells-next-the-Sea (six reports during 2023) and Padstow and St. Ives in Cornwall (four and eight reports respectively). 

How to Keep Your Car Safe During A Trip To The Beach 

Regardless of where Brits are heading to this summer, a trip to the seaside shouldn’t have to end with a phone call to the police. With this in mind, David Kottaun, Operation Manager at Scrap Car Comparison commented on what the findings mean, and how drivers can ensure their car and belongings are kept safe: 

“When the weather is good, the British coastline can be hard to beat, and we’re very lucky to have so many options around us when it comes to planning a day by the beach. 

While our data highlights that some seaside towns and cities experience more vehicle crime than others, this definitely shouldn’t put anyone off a certain location or see them cancelling the beach day they’ve been hoping for all winter long. It just means that no matter which beach you’re driving to, vigilance is key.  

Parking at a popular beach, just like parking in a busy city or at a football ground, can bring with it opportunist thieves who will take a chance on drivers being away from their cars, so there’s three simple things to always make sure you do before unfurling the beach towel and settling on the sand: 

Of course, there are further security measures you can purchase for your car, however any driver can do these three things and you’ll instantly be more at ease when soaking up the sun!”