PETTY vandalism is costing the fleet industry around £5.5 million a year with almost half the attacks taking place outside the homes of company car drivers. Lex Vehicle Leasing named London, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands, Cheshire and Strathclyde as the vandalism capitals of the UK after reviewing the cost of vandal attacks across its 93,000-strong fleet.

The company says it has spent almost £170,000 on rectifying damage caused by vandals in the first 10 months of this year. If that amount of damage was mirrored across the UK's three million-strong company car fleet it would amount to £5.5 million.

Lex Vehicle Leasing found five main centres of vandalism and that 43% of attacks took place when the company car was parked outside the driver's home.

The increased use of closed circuit television in car parks is one of the main reasons why they are becoming a more secure environment in which to leave company cars and a less likely place for a vehicle attack, according to Lex Vehicle Leasing.

One of the key objectives of the Government's Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team, chaired by Ford fleet operations director Mike Wear, is to improve car park safety and security though the Secured Car Parks Scheme, which aims to have 2,000 secure car parks by the end of the year.