At 1.10 pm today Mon 7th Oct catalytic converter thieves were seen in the act of jacking up my car, which had been parked in Hassocks Close. We interrupted them and they drove off but have broken the catalytic converter and done God knows what other damage.
There were 3 thieves and they were driving a pale blue Vauxhall registration number PX56 GFV. They drove off at considerable speed up Kirkdale towards Sydenham Hill or Thorpewood Avenue.
Sorry to hear this marymck. It’s just blatant theft and vandalisim.
There’s been a rise in this type of crime and they can apparently remove catalytic converters very quickly, so you did well to interupt them and get the registration number. Although I suspect the police will either come back with it belonging to a stolen car or that it’s a false plate.
Well Marymck, that car is live and has just been taxed to 1st Oct 2021 and the Mot is due in June next year. What did the police say?
They said:
"Unfortunately we will not be progressing this crime report as we have insufficient evidence to proceed.
I Spoke with the control room at Lewisham cctv who have stated that there is no cctv on hassocks close or on Kirkdale road.
Secondly it appears that the car involved in the attempted vehicle interference was on a cloned registration plate.
This crime report will now be closed pending any further leads coming to light."
When I pointed out to the officer that if it was cloned it was odd that it was the same make, model and colour as the car I’d seen, he said he would put in an intelligence report to aid in building a better picture of the thefts.
I did claim on my insurance It was a repair, rather than a replacement. But because it was classed as a “fault” claim - ie assumedly my fault for having a car insured with M&S - I can’t make any more claims without losing my 9 year no claims bonus. And my insurance more than doubled on renewing anyway, so it really wasn’t worthwhile claiming.
Worth saying I had a friend who had his number plate cloned and caused him no end of hassle. Toll charges, parking tickets and police knocking on his door. They asked him to prove where he was at 2 am which he couldn’t as he was asleep. Luckily the cloned car got a speeding ticket the same time he was being asked his whereabouts from the police. Very stressful situation.
Point is they normally clone same make model and colour car