Car Crime Awareness Month - Interview Opportunities Friday 9 September 2005

LONDON, September 6 --

- Available for interview:

- Jonathan Williams, Head of Marketing, Auto Trader

- Stuart Hide, Assistant Chief Constable, West Midlands Police

- Philip Swift, Director at Claims Management and Adjusting Ltd

- plus two case studies (see details below)

Have you ever received a speeding ticket or parking fine from somewhere you've never been? If so you could be the victim of car-cloning. Cloning is the latest among many scams that can befall owners and buyers of motor vehicles. With more buyers using the internet to locate their vehicle of choice, we've never been more vulnerable.

Cloned cars are vehicles which have been stolen and given a new identity. Criminal gangs will typically steal a car of a given make and colour, and give it the registration number and other identifying marks of an existing, identical car. Police believe there are now thousands of cloned cars on Britain's roads. And with the sudden, massive growth in internet trading, more cars are sold on a national, rather than local, level. This makes it far harder for police to trace a "clone" that has been sold.

With this and other vehicle crime on the increase, the UK's first National Car Crime Awareness Month is underway this September.

National Car Crime Awareness Month was launched by Auto Trader, and is supported by the Police, Trading Standards and motor manufacturer, Renault. Its aim is to raise awareness of car crime when buying, selling or owning a vehicle.

Cloning is not the only problem. In a recent survey nearly a quarter of motorists who had experienced car crime had been the victim of theft when showing their vehicle to a potential buyer, one in six motorists had been given a forged bankers draft from abroad and eight per cent had been targeted by fraudulent canvassers who offered to sell the vehicle for a fee, then disappeared with the money. One in six motorists bought a 'cut and shunt' - two cars welded together.

Today, car crime makes up nearly 20 per cent of all recorded crimes in England and Wales, with more than 1.8 million crimes in 2004-2005. Auto Trader has launched a website to support National Car Crime Awareness Month, www.carcrimeawareness.co.uk which features real life case studies, facts and figures, hints and tips and advice on buying, selling owning cars safely and securely.

The following are available for studio or on-camera interview about Car Crime Awareness Month:

Jonathan Williams, Head of Marketing at Auto Trader;

Stuart Hide, Assistant Chief Constable, West Midlands Police.

Philip Swift, Director, Claims Management and Adjusting Ltd

The following are also available for interview:

Case study 1:

Val Robinson of Gloucester and her husband decided to buy a Nissan Nevara Pick Up to take with them to a new life in Cyprus. Having paid out GBP10,500 in cash, Val tried to buy road tax for her new vehicle. It was then that DVLA discovered she had bought a "clone". Police also found that the genuine vehicle had been stolen from a dealership. Val lost the car and her money, and she and her husband have had to postpone their move to Cyprus for two years.

Case study 2:

Shirley Warrington of Stockport, Cheshire, bought her son Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 SRI. The car developed an oil leak so after 8 months Shirley decided to sell it on. But the garage she tried to sell it to ran an 'HPI' check, which revealed that the Corsa had previously been 'written off' twice and had a security alert on it. She had fallen victim to a "cut and shunt". The car had only scrap value.

To enquire about booking one of the interviewees, please call David Dix of PR Newswire, on +44-(0)20-7454-5184, email david.dix@:prnewswire.co.uk. For more information about Car Crime Awareness Month, please contact Karen Hughes of The Drum Consultancy, on +44-(0)20-7025-8044, e-mail karenh@drumbeat.co.uk.