Thieves strike while cars unfreeze

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Car owners should take extra care to protect from thieves while warming their vehicle up during the icy weather, after a spate of vehicles disappeared from driveways.

There is little comfort car insurance providers can give if owners fire up the ignition then disappear into the house to get ready, leaving the engine running, which is just what three Essex owners did. When they came back outside in winter gear, their cars had vanished.

"This isn't new, it's happened before in cold weather," said a police spokesman."Thieves notice that people turn their engines on to warm their cars up and then go inside for a cup of tea, or whatever, and then they simply get in the car and drive away."

The thefts took place between 7.20am and 7.50am on Wednesday morning, with a Ford Galaxy vanishing from a Chelmsford driveway and a Peugeot 407 and a Toyota Avensis both taken in Ingatestone. Police believe the incidents were planned and linked.

Another high-profile theft took place last Thursday in Groby, Leicestershire, when a £33,000 Jaguar was driven off at 8.35am after its owner was waiting for the windscreen to de-ice. Less than an hour earlier an £11,000 Ford Focus disappeared in Narborough.

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