Minister of State at the Home Office, Dan Jarvis MP, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist of the Metropolitan Police and radio presenter Nick Ferrari addressed a conference at RUSI about the theft of vehicles by organised criminal gangs.
RUSI's Acquisitive Crime Conference 2026: Tackling Organised Vehicle Theft heard that the institute’s latest research put the cost to the British economy of organised vehicle theft at more than £1.7 billion a year.
Dan Jarvis MP said:
I want it to be absolutely clear at the outset that vehicle theft is not a low-level or victimless crime. It is a serious and devastating crime that causes real harm to victims and businesses, rips billions out of our economy every year and leaves thousands of communities feeling unsafe in their own neighbourhood.
Dan Jarvis MP, Minister of State at the Home Office
The event, which brought together a wide variety of law enforcement specialists, as well as automotive and insurance industry professionals, heard about how sophisticated criminal networks steal and transport stolen vehicles from the UK to international markets – and discussed proposals to combat the problem.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said:
It is absolutely right to identify vehicle theft as no longer an opportunistic crime but criminality that's being orchestrated by highly organised professional criminal networks that seek to maximise the generally low risk presented to it by the criminal justice system. And the high financial rewards that can be offered.
Matt Twist, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
Mark Rose, Managing Director of Tracker, a stolen vehicle recovery specialist and sponsor of the conference, said:
There is a pressing need for this kind of cross-sector conversation and for efforts to harness the advantages that the private sector and technology can bring to support law enforcement in the fight against vehicle theft.
Mark Rose, Managing Director of Tracker
Radio presenter Nick Ferrari described his experience of having his car stolen last year as “desperately unsettling”. He explained how the issue of car theft resonated with the public and fed into wider perceptions of crime in the UK, adding that the event at RUSI was essential for convening experts and finding solutions.
Things like this [event] are really good… I would think almost certainly next month another car crime story will come up, whatever it might be. And I will be able to talk about the fact that they [RUSI] are getting manufacturers together. They are getting policing experts together. You are putting people together. You are trying to work your way through.
Nick Ferrari, Radio Presenter on LBC
