Cars Cops and Criminals - BBC1 Tonight 9PM

[V]

Just a heads up the third 2010 installment of this excellent show is on BBC1 tonight. Its by far the best police program on TV IMO.

BBC said:

Police teams at Felixstowe and Southampton crack down on organised criminal gangs who are exploiting loopholes in the shipping business to ship stolen luxury cars from Britain to Africa and other parts of the world.

Also, a gangster from Tanzania gets caught stealing Mercedes limos from car hire companies and driving them into containers for export abroad. British car crime cops train the Ugandan police how to spot a stolen car, and the Polish police come to the UK to see how Britain's police use Automatic Numberplate Recognition Systems to catch criminals.

Will be available on iPlayer shortly after - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rgdrm/Cars...

[Adz The Rat]

Watching it on Sky + now, its pretty good.
Quite interesting.

[V]

I think the main issue is the ease at which UK numberplates can be obtained (for stolen vehicles resold here), and for vehicles shipped abroad to be resold the lack of proper documentation and verification at the docks. Who the fk would send 2 nearly new S-Class' Mercs to Africa as 'Used Machinery'?

I was also surprised the number of car-jackings reported in the program, as I know a lot (If not the majority) of new cars all self-lock when you pull away. Mercedes have been doing this for years, yet they were mentioned in the program multiple times as been jacked.

[wiffmaster]

V said:

I was also surprised the number of car-jackings reported in the program, as I know a lot (If not the majority) of new cars all self-lock when you pull away. Mercedes have been doing this for years, yet they were mentioned in the program multiple times as been jacked.

I found that a bit weird as well. But, then I remembered Mercedes don't (didn't?) fit deadlocks on safety grounds. So if the window is smashed or wound down in the summer...

[FraserLFA]

I was quite impressed by the polish guy tracking down the dodgy dealer. Glad he didn't take it lying down.

[ewenm]

V said:

I think the main issue is the ease at which UK numberplates can be obtained (for stolen vehicles resold here), and for vehicles shipped abroad to be resold the lack of proper documentation and verification at the docks. Who the fk would send 2 nearly new S-Class' Mercs to Africa as 'Used Machinery'?

The containers aren't individually checked unless people are suspicious or by a random check, so "used machinery" is less suspicious than "stolen S-classes" on the manifest.

V said:

I was also surprised the number of car-jackings reported in the program, as I know a lot (If not the majority) of new cars all self-lock when you pull away. Mercedes have been doing this for years, yet they were mentioned in the program multiple times as been jacked.

The rear-ender accident is the classic - you get out to exchange details and are jacked from there, avoids serious damage to the car.

[V]

ewenm said:

V said:

I think the main issue is the ease at which UK numberplates can be obtained (for stolen vehicles resold here), and for vehicles shipped abroad to be resold the lack of proper documentation and verification at the docks. Who the fk would send 2 nearly new S-Class' Mercs to Africa as 'Used Machinery'?

The containers aren't individually checked unless people are suspicious or by a random check, so "used machinery" is less suspicious than "stolen S-classes" on the manifest.

V said:

I was also surprised the number of car-jackings reported in the program, as I know a lot (If not the majority) of new cars all self-lock when you pull away. Mercedes have been doing this for years, yet they were mentioned in the program multiple times as been jacked.

The rear-ender accident is the classic - you get out to exchange details and are jacked from there, avoids serious damage to the car.

I don't know. All this car criminal activity is nasty and really makes me depressed. Almost seems like there is no way to avoid it.

[ewenm]

V said:

ewenm said:

V said:

I think the main issue is the ease at which UK numberplates can be obtained (for stolen vehicles resold here), and for vehicles shipped abroad to be resold the lack of proper documentation and verification at the docks. Who the fk would send 2 nearly new S-Class' Mercs to Africa as 'Used Machinery'?

The containers aren't individually checked unless people are suspicious or by a random check, so "used machinery" is less suspicious than "stolen S-classes" on the manifest.

V said:

I was also surprised the number of car-jackings reported in the program, as I know a lot (If not the majority) of new cars all self-lock when you pull away. Mercedes have been doing this for years, yet they were mentioned in the program multiple times as been jacked.

The rear-ender accident is the classic - you get out to exchange details and are jacked from there, avoids serious damage to the car.

I don't know. All this car criminal activity is nasty and really makes me depressed. Almost seems like there is no way to avoid it.

You never hear of people who don't experience crime. Only the bad news is reported.

[Deerfoot]

FraserLFA said:

I was quite impressed by the polish guy tracking down the dodgy dealer. Glad he didn't take it lying down.

Hmmm, to be honest though he`d set himself up for a fall hadn`t he?

£8,000 for an E60 525d touring and the deal completed in a hotel cafe would`ve got my alarm bells ringing.

[FraserLFA]

Deerfoot said:

FraserLFA said:

I was quite impressed by the polish guy tracking down the dodgy dealer. Glad he didn't take it lying down.

Hmmm, to be honest though he`d set himself up for a fall hadn`t he?

£8,000 for an E60 525d touring and the deal completed in a hotel cafe would`ve got my alarm bells ringing.

Oh yeah he was stupid to do it in the first place, but to track the guy down was pretty impressive

[Deerfoot]

FraserLFA said:

Oh yeah he was stupid to do it in the first place, but to track the guy down was pretty impressive

Agree 100%

[soxboy]

wiffmaster said:

V said:

I was also surprised the number of car-jackings reported in the program, as I know a lot (If not the majority) of new cars all self-lock when you pull away. Mercedes have been doing this for years, yet they were mentioned in the program multiple times as been jacked.

I found that a bit weird as well. But, then I remembered Mercedes don't (didn't?) fit deadlocks on safety grounds. So if the window is smashed or wound down in the summer...

The Mercedes in the programme stolen from the hire company weren't actually carjacked, they were only claimed to have been carjacked by the person who had hired them.