Why Ford Fiesta owners should be extra vigilant against care thieves

More than 80 have been stolen from across the county since the start of March this year, with differing Ford Fiesta models being taken in areas such as Rotherham, SYP confirmed.

Fiestas can be stolen without keys considerably easier than many other cars on the market, police said, so owners were being advised to take extra steps to keep their vehicles safe.

Det Insp Lee Wilson, Deputy Force Lead for Serious Acquisitive Crime at South Yorkshire Police, said: “There are various ways owners of Fiestas can reduce the risk of their vehicle being stolen.

“These include purchasing an inexpensive Faraday pouch which blocks the radio waves from your keys; fitting a steering lock to your vehicle; keeping the keys as far away from your car as possible; or, if you are a two-car household and one doesn’t have keyless entry, you could use it to block the other one in.

“Remember, these criminals are looking for an easy opportunity – so if your car has an obvious full steering wheel disc lock in place, that’s immediately going to put them off.”

Det Insp Wilson added: “We’ve already got patrols and covert operations happening in hotspot areas to trace those responsible and we’re also liaising with other forces where we believe stolen vehicles may be being taken to their areas.

“Please take the time to review your vehicle security and I would also ask anyone with any information about the Fiesta thefts in their area – or who believes they may have been targeted but not reported this to the police – to get in contact with us. “Information from the public plays a really important role in helping us to locate those responsible as well as the vehicles which have been stolen.”

Anyone who has information or footage, such as CCTV of thefts, which may assist police investigations is asked to report it on 101.

If the crime is in action, please report it to the police on 999.

This is really important as by reporting the crime while it’s taking place, officers have a better chance of catching the criminals in action.

You can also anonymously contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or by visiting the Crimestoppers website.