Stolen cars kicked into the long grass by ‘six-week weeding’

Data from the Office of National Statistics has revealed that there are up to 350 stolen cars in the UK every day.

To improve the chances of stolen vehicles being recovered, motor insurance loss adjuster Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA) is now calling for an end to the police process known as ‘six-week weeding’.

When reported missing, a Lost or Stolen (LoS) marker is placed against a Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM). However, the police need to manually confirm this within six weeks or the listing will be removed and the vehicle status returned to ‘Not Stolen’.

Philip Swift, technical director at CMA, said: “We are seeing a dramatic increase in six-week weeding errors. Cars not recorded as stolen are far less likely to be recovered. They won’t get picked up by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras or spot checks. Even if reported as suspicious, a check will show ‘clear’.

“Weeding causes issues for used car buyers too, with diligent consumers conducting history checks getting false negative results. The inadvertent removal of stolen markers will also wrongly enhance a constabulary’s recovery rate, casting doubt on this important performance metric.”

He continued:

“Six-week weeding is said to cover cases where the owner mistakenly reports a vehicle as stolen, or it is quickly found. We find these justifications inadequate. Now, given the rise in frequency, the process is clearly causing vastly more problems than it solves. It urgently needs to be abolished.”