Picture this. You live in a small county in Britain and you’ve just returned from the shops to find that someone has stripped your Vauxhalll completely bare.
It sounds insane but that’s exactly what’s happening right now in Bedfordshire, England, thanks to a band of organized thugs.
Known as the “Vauxhall Cannibals,” the alleged team of thieves strips anything and everything it can get its hands on; they’ll take small, easy to remove parts like license plate holders and bumpers but they’ll also strip the vehicle completely bare if they have enough time. And it seems like no Vauxhall is safe.
Incredibly, in 150 cases the part plundering was so extensive that the vehicles had to be completely written off. That’s some seriously industrious handiwork.
As a matter of fact, local police say more than 500 offences in which parts have been taken from Astras or Corsas have been reported since August 2013. However, the brand-specific thievery was only reported to the country at large by the BBC program Crimewatch Roadshow on July 1, 2015.
But is there any rationale behind the recent rash of robberies? Well, there is an “exceptionally large” proportion of Vauxhalls in the county, which could come down to the fact that the brand is headquartered just one hour away in Lutton, an area with an already higher-than-normal crime rate.
Cops say the majority of the thefts are body panels, which they believe are being stripped and resold on the second hand marketplace as replacements for damaged panels.
Bad news is it looks like it’s about to get worse before it gets any better. The trend is on the rise and since April 2015 police have reported 10 Vauxhall strip-downs– per week! Plus, it seems the criminals are moving into nearby territory, as cops have also reported parts plundering in nearby Northamptonshire.
Unfortunately, not even the 2016 Astra’s standard OnStar system with Stolen Vehicle Assistance will be capable of tracking down the pesky body panels. What’s a Vauxhall owner to do?
No Comments yet