‘Embarrassing’ Audi thieves struck at a ‘secure’ car park in Birmingham after a £40,000 car was looted and left on rocks. BirminghamLive readers branded the incident ‘disgusting’, while others claimed: ‘It’s safer to leave your car on the public road.’
Shocked motorist James, 57, who was in the city visiting friends, returned on June 5 to find the carnage at the multi-storey NCP on Newhall Street, in the Jewelery Quarter. disabled and the steering wheel stolen.
James shared photos of the secure entrance to the car park which appeared to be broken, meaning it could be accessed without a QR code. Commenting on the story on Facebook, one reader wrote: “Shameful thieves, so if you work hard you can’t afford a car.” Another person branded the theft as ‘disgusting’.
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Another person wrote: “This should be a properly secured car park, you can’t just walk in without a ticket, you have to scan your season ticket or day ticket to even get in, they would definitely know who can’t and what cars are in that time was left.”
But someone else said: “It’s not safe at all; anyone can walk in and out.” Another social media user claimed a Range Rover was stripped last week. He added: “It’s safer to drop your car on public roads.” West Midlands Police said it was investigating the theft and has requested CCTV footage from the car park “in an attempt to identify the perpetrators.”
An NCP spokesperson said: “We take all crime in our car parks very seriously and work hard to prevent people from entering our car parks for reasons other than parking. We are very sorry that this incident occurred while the customer was parked on our car Unfortunately, crime is a problem that we, and all businesses that have buildings open to the public, try to prevent.
“We try to keep our car parks as safe as possible, but if our security doors are vandalized we have to go through the repair process only to have them vandalized again. We are aware that we are not alone in this. Due to our concerns we have met with West Midlands Police, Birmingham City Council, local BID organizations and the Outreach Team on anti-social behavior and vehicle crime in Birmingham car parks.
“We also met with the BID Manager for the Colmore BID on the same issues. On 5 June 2024 we met with the Birmingham City Center LCSP Group, involving West Midlands Police, Birmingham Council and BID groups were involved. During this meeting vehicle crime and anti-social behavior were discussed.
“Over the next two weeks we have more meetings planned with the BID groups and with West Midlands Police. We can’t always say we can stop people walking or driving onto our properties with the intention of committing crimes; our patrol personnel are limited in their ability to apprehend criminals as parking operators.
“We have recruited additional staff to our Birmingham branches and have ensured that they are running key shifts to deter this type of crime and will continue to do everything we can from our side to stop this type of crime, in addition to meeting with the relevant people who can help reduce crime in this community.”
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