Since 2015, over 2,000 caravans have been stolen, with a 73% rise in thefts from 2015-2018, according to data retrieved by Towergate Caravan Insurance.
Based on the lowest-cost caravan of the UKs largest caravan makers, Swift, caravan thefts since 2015 have cost UK caravan owners over £35 million.
Caravans are stolen most frequently in the summer months, with July being the most likely month for a caravan to be stolen, while December and January proved to be the safest months for owners.
We asked each police constabulary for the number of caravan thefts reported between 2015-2018.
In Greater Manchester, caravan thefts have risen by 66% since 2015, in Essex they have risen by 51% and in Cheshire they have increased by 44%. However, the biggest rise in caravan theft was in Norfolk; in 2015 just four thefts were reported, yet in 2018 this number had rocketed to 37 – an astonishing rise of 825%.
Police constabularies | Total thefts 2015-2018* |
1. Greater Manchester | 289 |
2. West Mercia | 220 |
3. Cheshire | 189 |
4. Essex | 177 |
5. Cambridgeshire | 141 |
6. Staffordshire | 130 |
7. Suffolk | 111 |
8. West Midlands | 106 |
9. Nottinghamshire | 92 |
10. Norfolk | 87 |
11. Northumbria | 85 |
12. Kent | 82 |
13. Wiltshire | 73 |
14. Humberside | 72 |
15. Devon & Cornwall | 66 |
16. Bedfordshire | 64 |
17. Derbyshire | 64 |
18. Leicestershire | 63 |
19. Northamptonshire | 54 |
20. Durham | 39 |
21. Cumbria | 34 |
22. Avon & Somerset | 33 |
23. South Yorkshire | 33 |
24. Cleveland | 32 |
25. Merseyside | 20 |
26. Lancashire | 18 |
27. Dorset | 12 |
To avoid becoming the victim of a caravan theft, Towergate experts suggest several security precautions that can be taken to make your caravan the safest it can be. These include ensuring hitch locks, door locks, chassis secure wheel locks, caravan anchoring devices, alarmed locks and cables, wheel clamps and tracking devices are all considered to prevent thefts. Further information and advice can be found in our guide to caravan security.
*Data obtained through the Freedom of Information Requests to each Police Constabulary to reveal the UK’s caravan theft hotspots.
Date: December 13, 2019
Category: Caravan