We’ve just found out that our catalytic converter has been stolen on Devonshire Road. We turned the engine on and it was making a very loud roaring sound. Just a plea for information if anyone has any and also a warning to others !
Sad times 
Apparently fairly common from what I hear. Easy to remove and worth a few bob.
Commiserations…
Yes, they contain precious metals such as platinum and palladium.
I know of someone this happened to on Bovill Road and I don’t think they were the only one. I guess they are doing the rounds - not sure what you can do to stop it.
Is it a small white car parked on the right going from Forest Hill?
I drove up Devonshire Road at just after 11:30 this morning and I saw this car jacked right up and I thought it was strange for someone to be working under a car on the roadside.
Now I know this is happening I’ll stop in future.
Unbelievable!
The beeb have an article about this type of crime, showing a peak in convictions of scrap metal dealers in 2014. That doesn’t necessarily correlate with the plots for the historic metal prices though, and could just be due to some other factors such as scrap metal dealers being better at avoiding prosecution, or police being less able/effective.
From the article:
Trade association the British Metals Recycling Association has said stretched resources mean the police are unlikely to prosecute scrap dealers operating illegally and are more likely to encourage them to apply for licences retrospectively.
No it wasn’t but I’ll definitely be more vigilant when I’m walking now too! Thank you for checking
Another article about this from the beeb:
There has been a huge rise in catalytic converters being stolen from cars in 2019, police in London say.
For the first six months of 2019, the number of thefts of catalytic converters jumped to 2,894, compared to 1,674 thefts for all of 2018.
…
In a video seen by the BBC, a criminal gang stole a catalytic converter in under three minutes in broad daylight.