Dr Ken German writes that crime has been with us forever. The motor vehicle however has only been with us in one form or another since the late 19th century. Like night follows day, vehicle crime followed up close behind and some offences are not as new as you might think!
In 1891, the police, already 60 years in existence, were aware of the disquiet caused by these โnew fangledโ horseless carriages, and responding to local pressures from a frightened public (not to mention the horses), they attempted to ban them from what could arguably be called roads.
The โcontraptionโ owners however, who could list Lords, judges, wealthy industrialists and landowners, not to mention a few Chief Constables, were thankfully able to influence the Highways Act 1895, which at least allowed them to keep and use there vehicles, providing a 14 miles per hour speed restriction was observed. The motor car, now fitted with pneumatic tyres was also released from the red flag requirement imposed on it since 1865. By 1904 the speed limit had been increased from 12 mph to 20 mph for the 17,000 vehicles now registered for the road.
The Automobile club had been formed in 1897 and the 1903 Motor Car Act required vehicle owners to register their cars and motorcycles with the local council for twenty shillings (£1) and also obtain a licence from a post office for five shillings (25p). An increase in reported vehicle crime as such was limited to abusers of the new speed limit, usually the โoffspringโ of the vehicle owners. These privileged few were no doubt trying to emulate the drivers in the Gordon Bennett races (the Michael Schumachers of that period) who were exceeding 40 miles per hour on their journey from one capital city to another. The borrowing of cars and motorcycles however, with or without permission for "joyous purposes", as one Kent magistrate suggested, "was inappropriate, foolhardy and worrying for the owner". TWOCing (Taking Without the Consent of the Owner) or joy-riding began in 1903. It’s 102 years old! By 1904 nearly 29,000 owners had sought registration for their vehicles.
In Cheshire, just three years after compulsory registration, a new Ford car had been โborrowedโ from the collection of vehicles owned by an eminent local surgeon. The culprit, a young relative, had challenged his fellow students to a race, but had damaged his own Ford car beyond repair. The registration plates (one letter and one number) from his car were placed onto the borrowed car and the race was run. The winner, the student relative, was however indiscreet and the owner took him to court. The magistrate, a horse owner, likened the offence to the โringingโ of a horse and imposed a fine of seven shillings.
The term โRingerโ had moved from four legs to four wheels and it is a word that still blights the automobile world to this day. (Ringer; substituted racehorse)
In 1907, Automobile Association (formed in 1905) ordered their patrol cyclists to warn motorists of oncoming police speed traps. In Reigate, an over enthusiastic AA cyclist waved down a speeding car to inform the driver of a speed trap ahead. The alleged (printable) reply was similar to "Not yet there isnโt, we are the police!"
Not quite an attempt to pervert the cause of Justice but interesting all the same. Another disastrous attempt to catch speeding drivers occurred near Oxford when a photographer was summoned by the police to photograph the vehicles complete with registration plate. One driver, startled by the flash, veered off the road and demolished the camera, covertly hidden behind a bush. The photographer, who I am pleased to say escaped the fracas, might well have been involved with the first speed camera.
Stolen or borrowed vehicles had not been publicly declared a problem in 1910. Some car manufacturers however had started to fit key operated locks to their door and ignition systems. By 1914, certain garages were using mechanical pumps to distribute petrol. Previously sold in cans, the new pumps allowed the still expensive fuel to be sent directly from the pump to the vehicles tank.
In Lancashire, vehicles entering a certain garage triggered a bell by driving over a mechanical cable. The proprietor, probably thinking that he had not had a customer for a while, found the cable hanging over a lamp standard in his forecourt and 50 gallons of fuel had been taken.
Probably not the first theft of petrol I am sure, but an early โdrive offโ certainly. In 1918, the First World War had ended and the total number of vehicles reported stolen to the Police in the UK was surprisingly less than 1179 with London receiving just 211 vehicle crime related reports. Up to then and certainly in the โsticksโ, it was quite common to notify the Chief Constable or his deputy personally of any vehicle theft and it was quite normal for him to have details printed onto posters which would be displayed in prominent places in the surrounding area. This presupposes that most vehicle owners at that time were still fairly wealthy and therefore deserved the best treatment and advice the police could offer. The cheapest models available were around £175, a whole two yearโs wages to the average man.
The 1920 Road Act required all 591,000 owners to register their vehicles at the time of licensing, each one being issued with its own number.
There were now quite a few old, unusual but well used ex first world war vehicles being made available to the public, albeit still at a price that many could not afford. Three armed carriers were purchased by a gentleman from Waterloo who used them for collecting people from the railway station and taking them sightseeing around London. He was not registered as an official cab driver but could well be responsible for starting the first mini cab business. Any passenger โbilkingโ this owner would I assume be in for a big surprise.
Typical of that period, much of the theft was opportunist and people simply borrowed motor cycles and cars to see how they worked, or perhaps used them to get home from a night out.
One recently demobbed Captain living in Victoria got fed up when his motor cycle was taken from outside his home. He always removed most of the fuel from the tank and was therefore fortunate to have found it less than a mile away. Not to be a victim a second time he attached a flare grenade to the machine and connected the pin via string to the railings. The wind unfortunately blew the bike over in the night and the explosion rendered the bike and his car parked nearby useless. He was forced to pay for the damage to the windows in the downstairs flat, the railings and the shrubbery. He may well have invented the first alarm and immobiliser. In 1921 the first growing signs of car crime were appearing. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police reported the following.
"Amongst other crimes, larcenies of motor cars and vans have been frequent. These, again, are in a large measure due to the carelessness of owner’s". With no door or ignition locks, alarms, immobilisers it is difficult to understand how a driver could be so careless". It is known that in this the first serious mention of vehicle theft by a senior police officer, several well known persons had reported their vehicles stolen.
In those days, vehicle insurance existed but was not readily available or indeed considered by the majority of owners.
When a Mr Swaby of Dorset found his farm vehicle missing, all of his estate workers and those from neighbouring farms went looking for it. Together with the local constabulary, led by its superintendent, it must have been an impressive scene, likened only to that of a murder hunt or a film set. With little petrol the culprit, an army deserter was soon caught. Just as well, Mr Swabyโs insurance, a staggering six shillings per month covered nothing outside the house. In 1926 1.7 million vehicles were registered for the roads in the UK.
Illegal to lock
Believe it or not, in 1928 the then Minister of Transport passed an order making it illegal for drivers in London to lock their cars and vans when parked in public places. We canโt establish for sure the minister’s mind set at this somewhat unusual law, but enquiries from ancient memoryโs suggest that London was grid locked with vehicles and horses preventing the capital’s businessmen (and I assume MPs) getting to their places of work. One assumes that if the vehicles were left open, then the police could move them around easily should they become an obstruction.
When thefts from these open vehicles, bordered on full blown looting, an early end to this regulation was agreed. Not surprisingly a dramatic increase in the taking of these vehicles was also reported and fingers were pointed at several organised London gangs who had taken control of their theft and disposal. Organised vehicle crime had arrived. In 1929, in central London, a failed robbery at a jewellers shop forced the villains to flee. They pushed a chauffeur from his car, which happened to be stationary at some traffic lights (invented two years earlier) and when he bravely fought back, a gun was pointed at him. He fled the scene but not before he had โlockedโ the handbrake. This might be the first manufacturers fitted anti theft device ever and it would be over 30 years before it was made generally available to the public. The villains were eventually overpowered by passing draymen. The judge at the inner London assizes, prior to sentencing the pair, had read about the recent Valentineโs Day massacre in America and the โHijackingโ of illegal liquor.
He said "The offences, including the attempt to commandeer, expropriate, no Hijack this vehicle with a gun, will be punished to the maximum extent that the law will allow". This could well have been the first time a vehicle had reportedly been hijacked.
Insurance at last
Nearly one million vehicles of all types were on the UK roads by 1930 and with over 7000 road deaths reported, third party insurance was at last made compulsory. In 1932 the bazaar London Traffic (Parking Places) Regulations of 1928 were withdrawn and drivers were now encouraged to lock their cars and vans. Also car manufacturers were now encouraged to design a standard device to prevent cars from being stolen.
The door lock had arrived and crime prevention, or crime reduction as it now is (no promises, just advice) had begun.
In 1934, the vehicles on our roads amounted to 1.5 million and by 1939 at the outbreak of war there were nearly two million. Many of these were ultimately commandeered for war work or laid up for the duration. With petrol heavily rationed (200 miles per vehicle per month) the โBlack Marketโ was working overtime.
Music hall comedians joked that a soldierโs jeep or motor cycle may run dry, but you could still buy a gallon of petrol in Fulham for a large white five pound note. The war, petrol rationing, and a restriction on vehicle movements saw only one million vehicles of any sort were on the road in 1941, half of that two years earlier.
This would all change however when the Second World War ended bringing with it the most bizarre collection of surplus vehicles ever seen to these shores and affordable motoring for all. The potential profits however were being scrutinised by organised crime and car crime was in its ascendance.
About the author
Dr Ken German recently retired from the Specialist crime directorate (vehicles) New Scotland Yard. He has waht is thought to be the only doctorate in vehicle crime in the UK. A
Fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry, Hon Fellow of the Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors and Vice President of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators, he runs a specialist vehicle fraud consultancy.
