A SOUTH Essex road has been revealed as the third worst in England for road for vehicle crime over the past year.

Analysis of public police data conducted by the supplier of private plates Regtransfers ranked a total of 177,672 roads across the UK, each of which reporting at least one vehicle crime between January 2023 and January 2024.

According to the official police description, a vehicle crime refers to instances of “theft from or of a vehicle, or interference with a vehicle”.

The new study revealed Bailey Close, in Purfleet, as one of the worst areas for vehicle crime in England during 2023, with an average of 9.46 crimes taking place per month.

The street experienced a total of 123 vehicle crimes across the year, ranking it the third "worst" in the country. The study also found the worst month for activity on Bailey Close was during June of last year, in which 21 crimes took place in the area.

Essex Police has two specialist teams dedicated to tackling vehicle crime.

The stolen vehicle intelligence unit which regularly seizes stolen cars within hours of them being taken, examines them and uses that intelligence to locate other missing vehicles, while the road crime team target criminals using the county's road network.

Earlier this month, it was revealed the road crime team has made 126 arrests so far in 2024. Last year, the specialist stolen vehicle unit recovered more than 700 stolen vehicles last year.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “All car crime is a priority for us because we understand the impact it has on our residents and businesses. We’ll continue to tackle car crime in all its forms, whether it’s theft from vehicles or the theft of a vehicle, in order to protect car owners, businesses and communities from the harm caused by those responsible for committing these offences.

"We have officers dedicated to tackling car crimes – the Stolen Vehicle Investigation Unit and the Road Crime Team who proactively patrol our county’s roads.

"Enhanced use of intelligence is one way we can identify patterns of offending and to target car thieves, to prevent and deter theft and to catch those committing the crimes. The Road Crime Team works with colleagues from teams across the force and with colleagues in other forces to pursue cross border offenders."

The study showed that over 366,600 crimes were reported to England’s police forces throughout 2023, with the majority taking place in London, which racked up a total of 111,887 vehicle crimes - a third of all that were reported last year.