Car Theft by London Borough & Home Counties District 2026

Croydon recorded more thefts of a motor vehicle than any other London borough or Home Counties council area in the year to June 2026: 1,713, just ahead of Enfield (1,697) and Newham (1,665). Enfield had the highest rate, at 5.2 thefts for every 1,000 residents, with Thurrock in Essex close behind at 5.1. The biggest rise was in Wokingham, where thefts went up 37.5%, from 128 to 176.

This page ranks every London borough and every council area in Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire: 96 areas, 92 of them with figures. The numbers are thefts of a motor vehicle recorded by the police between July 2025 and June 2026, compared with the 12 months before, from the Home Office’s official crime data. For the national picture and the most stolen models, see our UK car theft statistics.

Key findings

Croydon had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (1,713), followed by Enfield (1,697), Newham (1,665), Barnet (1,524) and Bromley (1,404). The top three are less than 3% apart.
Enfield had the highest rate: 5.2 thefts per 1,000 residents. Thurrock in Essex was second (5.1), the highest outside London and well above Croydon (4.2).
The 16 areas with the most thefts are all London boroughs. Outside London, Thurrock had the most (920), then Milton Keynes (610) and Basildon (505).
Biggest rises (areas with at least 100 thefts the year before): Wokingham +37.5%, Colchester +33.4%, Tendring +33.1% and Reigate and Banstead +30.9%. In numbers, Croydon rose the most: 168 more thefts than the year before.
Car theft fell in 62 of the 92 areas. The biggest fall was in Basildon (−37.0%, from 801 to 505).
Across London’s boroughs and the City, thefts assigned to an area fell 6.0%, from 30,956 to 29,086.
The lowest rates were in South Oxfordshire (0.5 per 1,000), Vale of White Horse (0.6) and Waverley (0.6).
Thefts from vehicles (things taken from inside a car) are counted separately. Ealing had the most (2,609), then Newham (2,274) and Westminster (1,979).

Car theft by London borough

Thefts of a motor vehicle in all 32 London boroughs and the City of London, July 2025 to June 2026, sorted by number of thefts. Croydon had the most; Enfield had the highest rate, and Kingston upon Thames the lowest (1.8 per 1,000).

Rank	Borough	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Croydon	1,713	+10.9%	4.2
2	Enfield	1,697	−2.3%	5.2
3	Newham	1,665	+8.3%	4.4
4	Barnet	1,524	−2.6%	3.8
5	Bromley	1,404	+4.5%	4.2
6	Redbridge	1,145	−13.6%	3.6
7	Hillingdon	1,112	+6.3%	3.4
8	Brent	1,098	−9.8%	3.1
9	Lewisham	1,065	−9.7%	3.5
10	Ealing	1,059	−2.5%	2.7
11	Barking and Dagenham	1,037	−2.4%	4.5
12	Waltham Forest	998	−20.5%	3.6
13	Greenwich	981	−13.6%	3.3
14	Haringey	980	−14.6%	3.7
15	Havering	968	−8.2%	3.5
16	Tower Hamlets	930	−3.8%	2.8
17	Southwark	909	−3.6%	2.9
18	Lambeth	890	−0.4%	2.8
19	Hounslow	815	−4.2%	2.7
20	Wandsworth	809	−10.2%	2.4
21	Harrow	746	+14.8%	2.8
22	Bexley	732	−26.0%	2.9
23	Hackney	579	−12.1%	2.2
24	Westminster	577	+1.8%	2.7
25	Merton	562	−12.9%	2.6
26	Richmond upon Thames	483	−15.1%	2.5
27	Camden	479	−19.4%	2.2
28	Hammersmith and Fulham	469	−18.6%	2.5
29	Kensington and Chelsea	462	+1.5%	3.2
30	Sutton	450	−12.8%	2.1
31	Islington	416	−23.4%	1.9
32	Kingston upon Thames	315	−17.1%	1.8
33	City of London	17	n/a	n/a

The Metropolitan Police could not assign 1,823 thefts to a borough, so the borough figures add up to slightly less than the Met’s total. The ONS does not publish a rate for the City of London because so few people live there, and its change is not shown because the numbers are small.

The Met’s own borough data, which runs three months later (October 2025 to September 2026), puts Enfield first with 1,839, ahead of Newham (1,775) and Croydon (1,682). The top three swap places depending on which 12 months you look at.

Car theft in Surrey by district

In Surrey, Reigate and Banstead had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (237); Tandridge had the highest rate (2.0 per 1,000 residents). Across the 11 areas, thefts fell 7.7%, from 1,633 to 1,508.

Rank	District	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Reigate and Banstead	237	+30.9%	1.5
2	Elmbridge	185	−16.7%	1.3
3	Tandridge	180	+11.8%	2.0
4	Spelthorne	168	−25.0%	1.6
5	Epsom and Ewell	158	−16.0%	1.9
6	Guildford	124	−17.3%	0.8
7	Runnymede	123	−8.9%	1.3
8	Surrey Heath	90	+20.0%	1.0
9	Woking	88	−34.8%	0.8
10	Mole Valley	79	−3.7%	0.9
11	Waverley	76	−5.0%	0.6

Car theft in Kent by district

Four of Kent’s 12 areas have no district figures (see the note below the table). Of the rest, Dartford and Gravesham had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (339); Sevenoaks had the highest rate (1.9 per 1,000 residents).

Rank	District	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Dartford and Gravesham	339	−22.6%	1.4
2	Swale	290	+6.6%	1.8
3	Sevenoaks	231	−6.1%	1.9
4	Canterbury	194	−11.0%	1.2
5	Thanet	165	+13.0%	1.2
6	Folkestone and Hythe	119	+43.4%	1.1
7	Dover	116	+0.9%	1.0
8	Ashford	114	−22.4%	0.8
	Maidstone	Not available	Not available	Not available
	Medway	Not available	Not available	Not available
	Tonbridge and Malling	Not available	Not available	Not available
	Tunbridge Wells	Not available	Not available	Not available

Because of IT problems at Kent Police, thefts in Maidstone, Medway, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells are not assigned to a district in the official data; the Home Office says Dartford and Gravesham are affected too, so treat that row with caution. Kent Police recorded 1,465 thefts it could not assign to a district, on top of the 1,568 shown above. We have left the missing areas blank rather than estimate them.

Car theft in Essex by district

In Essex, Thurrock had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (920) and the highest rate (5.1 per 1,000 residents). Across the 14 areas, thefts fell 10.5%, from 5,153 to 4,612.

Rank	District	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Thurrock	920	−3.7%	5.1
2	Basildon	505	−37.0%	2.6
3	Epping Forest	472	−11.9%	3.4
4	Colchester	403	+33.4%	2.0
5	Southend-on-Sea	384	−22.1%	2.1
6	Tendring	338	+33.1%	2.2
7	Brentwood	322	+9.9%	4.1
8	Harlow	295	−14.2%	3.0
9	Chelmsford	288	−28.9%	1.5
10	Braintree	175	−17.5%	1.1
11	Uttlesford	167	−1.8%	1.8
12	Rochford	139	+8.6%	1.5
13	Castle Point	134	−26.4%	1.5
14	Maldon	70	−10.3%	1.0

Car theft in Hertfordshire by district

In Hertfordshire, Broxbourne had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (306) and the highest rate (3.0 per 1,000 residents). Across the 10 areas, thefts fell 13.1%, from 2,302 to 2,001.

Rank	District	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Broxbourne	306	−2.9%	3.0
2	St Albans	278	+5.3%	1.8
3	Hertsmere	253	−23.6%	2.3
4	Watford	214	−0.9%	2.0
5	East Hertfordshire	213	−17.4%	1.4
6	Dacorum	203	−31.9%	1.3
7	Welwyn Hatfield	185	−31.2%	1.5
8	Three Rivers	159	+4.6%	1.7
9	North Hertfordshire	117	−8.6%	0.9
10	Stevenage	73	+2.8%	0.8

Car theft in Berkshire by council area

Berkshire is policed by Thames Valley Police. Slough had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (354) and the highest rate (2.1 per 1,000 residents). Across the 6 areas, thefts rose 1.4%, from 1,238 to 1,255.

Rank	Council area	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Slough	354	+3.8%	2.1
2	Reading	286	−11.2%	1.6
3	Wokingham	176	+37.5%	0.9
4	Windsor and Maidenhead	172	−5.0%	1.1
5	Bracknell Forest	134	+8.9%	1.0
6	West Berkshire	133	−7.0%	0.8

Car theft in Buckinghamshire by council area

Buckinghamshire is policed by Thames Valley Police. Milton Keynes had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (610); South Bucks had the highest rate (2.3 per 1,000 residents). Across the 5 areas, thefts rose 1.6%, from 1,389 to 1,411.

Rank	Council area	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Milton Keynes	610	−6.3%	2.0
2	Wycombe	277	+6.1%	1.5
3	Aylesbury Vale	245	+17.8%	1.1
4	South Bucks	174	+12.3%	2.3
5	Chiltern	105	−7.9%	1.1

Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe are the old district areas that now make up Buckinghamshire Council; the police still report crime for each one. Milton Keynes is a separate council.

Car theft in Oxfordshire by district

Oxfordshire is policed by Thames Valley Police. Oxford had the most thefts of a motor vehicle (188) and the highest rate (1.1 per 1,000 residents). Across the 5 areas, thefts rose 9.6%, from 539 to 591.

Rank	District	Thefts, Jul 2025–Jun 2026	Change on year before	Per 1,000 people
1	Oxford	188	+22.1%	1.1
2	Cherwell	148	−5.7%	0.9
3	Vale of White Horse	92	+33.3%	0.6
4	West Oxfordshire	82	+17.1%	0.7
5	South Oxfordshire	81	−9.0%	0.5

What this means if you park on a driveway

Police figures don’t say whether a car was taken from a drive or the street, but they do show where the risk is highest. Suburban boroughs such as Croydon, Enfield, Barnet and Bromley top the London list, while central boroughs record far fewer: Camden had 479 and Islington 416. Thieves with relay devices can open and start a keyless car quickly and quietly, so the car on your drive is the one to protect. We explain how that works, and the simple steps that stop it, in our guide to preventing keyless car theft.

The most direct fix is a physical one. Locked driveway bollards stand in front of the car, so even if a thief gets in and starts it, they can’t drive it off the drive. Wentworth Protection supplies and fits them across London and the Home Counties.

Use this data

Journalists, councils, residents’ groups and local news sites are welcome to use these figures. Please credit “Wentworth Protection analysis of Home Office police recorded crime data” and link to this page. The underlying data is published by the Home Office under the Open Government Licence. We will update the tables when new quarterly figures come out.

Download the full dataset, with every area, the previous year, rates, ranks and thefts from vehicles: car-theft-by-area-2026.csv (CSV, 96 areas).

Method and sources

Thefts of a motor vehicle: Home Office, Police recorded crime Community Safety Partnership open data, year ending March 2021 to year ending June 2026, updated 22 October 2026. We use offence code 48, “theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle”: the same measure the ONS reports as theft of a motor vehicle. Thefts from a vehicle are offence code 45.
Period: July 2025 to June 2026 (the latest 12 months published), compared with July 2024 to June 2025. Figures are by community safety partnership, which matches a London borough or council area (four Buckinghamshire partnerships cover the old districts, and Dartford and Gravesham share one).
Rates per 1,000 residents: our calculation, using the ONS mid-2024 population estimates published with the ONS police force area data tables, year ending June 2026 (Table C4), released 22 October 2026.
London cross-check: Metropolitan Police recorded crime by borough, London Datastore (updated 8 October 2026). The Met assigns almost every theft to a borough, so its borough figures run a little higher than the Home Office’s.
Things to bear in mind: these are crimes recorded by the police, not every theft that happens. Forces record and locate crimes in slightly different ways, and small numbers can swing a lot from one year to the next, so we only show a change where there were at least 50 thefts the year before (as the ONS does).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which London borough has the most car thefts?

Croydon, with 1,713 thefts of a motor vehicle between July 2025 and June 2026, just ahead of Enfield (1,697) and Newham (1,665) (Home Office data). The Met’s own figures for October 2025 to September 2026 put Enfield first, with 1,839.

Which Home Counties area has the most car thefts?

Thurrock in Essex, with 920 thefts of a motor vehicle between July 2025 and June 2026, followed by Milton Keynes (610) and Basildon (505).

Where is the car theft rate highest?

Enfield, with 5.2 thefts of a motor vehicle for every 1,000 residents in the year to June 2026. Thurrock (5.1) and Barking and Dagenham (4.5) come next.

Where is car theft rising fastest?

In Wokingham, where thefts of a motor vehicle rose 37.5%, from 128 to 176. Colchester (+33.4%) and Tendring (+33.1%) were next. Overall, car theft fell in 62 of the 92 areas.

Where is car theft lowest?

South Oxfordshire had the lowest rate, at 0.5 thefts per 1,000 residents, followed by Vale of White Horse and Waverley (0.6 each). In London, Kingston upon Thames had the lowest rate (1.8).

Car Theft by London Borough and Home Counties District, 2026