Cars parked on the forecourt of a garage on the outskirts of Ryde have been targeted by thieves who have stole the vehicle’s catalytic converters.
A number of cars parked outside Ashey Road Garage on Ashey Road had their cats removed at some point over the festival weekend.
The garage is warning locals to keep their eyes peeled and is asking anyone who saw anything suspicious to get in touch.
Catalytic converters are devices fitted to vehicle exhausts to reduce the amount of dangerous gases emitted. They are often targeted by thieves as they contain valuable metals and can be removed in less than a minute.
Catalytic converter theft most frequently occurs in car parks, but they can happen anywhere. Thieves may then sell these converters via scrapyards, online, or ship them out of the country.
Hybrid vehicles are most commonly targeted, as their metals are more valuable, but any vehicle can be at risk of catalytic converter theft.
What is happening I had mine stolen of my Mercedes last year it’s so dear to get a new exhaust system mine had two cats Scumbags must be selling to someone local ?
Cats are stolen for the precious metal content (Platinum and Palladium). While the prices of Palladium is high, it’s no higher than it was in 2020, and Platinum was considerably more in in the early 2010s.
At a guess I would say this is a mainland gang who have come over with the idea (correctly) that general security will be more lax here. Wonder if the same lot are responsible for the diesel thefts?
Before anyone says it, no, they cannot search every van travelling to the mainland because the police cannot search vehicles without reasonable grounds to do so. For this they would need a description of a suspect / vehicle.
“But any vehicle can be at risk of catalytic converter theft.” Really? One would assume electric vehicles are safe.
Low life scum ,can’t be bothered to work so steal !!!!!!
And it’s easy money for them !!!
Surely though the garage must /should have cctv ?
Let’s hope so andthey get caught ….
I had a car of mine stolen and the police asked me to check for any CCTV in the area.. And that was only when I asked if they had checked for any CCTV days later..
reduced police force = increased crime.