VEHICLE crime has continued to fall in England and Wales, according to figures for the year to March published by the Home Office on Tuesday. The Government is on a crusade to cut car crime by 30% within a five-year period, which started on April 1 last year.

The new figures reveal that thefts of vehicles fell 4.4% year-on-year to 374,686 - down from 391,807 in the year to March 1999 - largely due to continuous improvements in security measures. Thefts from vehicles fell 2.4% to 669, 292 - down from 685,919 in the year to March 1999 - with the Government claiming motorists were more careful about ensuring valuables were locked away from view. In the last five years, total vehicle crime has fallen from 1,391,158 instances between April 1995 and March 1996 to 1,043,918 between April 1999 and March this year.