Just 1% of Sutton and Croydon car thefts result in charge as restaurant owner loses 2 in 12 months

New Met Police figures show just 30 of 2,270 car thefts in Croydon and Sutton led to a positive outcome

“It’s frustrating as it’s not just your car stolen, it’s the memories with your car,” Sutton restaurant owner Khuram Ijaz says after his family had two cars stolen from their driveway.

His experience comes as new figures reveal the scale of the problem facing car owners across Sutton and Croydon, with just 30 of 2,270 reported vehicle thefts resulting in a positive outcome, such as a charge.

That equates to around 1.3 per cent of reported thefts, raising concerns among residents about whether police have the resources to properly investigate cases and pursue those responsible.

Khuram, of Camden Road, Sutton, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that his first car, a Mercedes GLA, was stolen from his driveway almost three years ago after thieves entered through a window and took the keys from inside the family home. Around a year later, his second car, a BMW X3, was stolen while the family slept.

“We woke up and there was no car,” Khuram said, adding that his baby car seat, buggy and other belongings had been inside. “It was a family car.”

Although insurance covered the vehicle, Khuram said some belongings were not covered.

Police attended after the first theft was reported, but Khuram said no fingerprints were found because the suspects were wearing gloves. He said he was frustrated that the family received “no update about whether the police had found the car at all”.

“In my opinion, they need more police in the area and bring stricter law,” he said. “The law is very soft here.”

Jill Whitehead, another Sutton resident, said her second-hand hybrid Toyota was stolen from the front drive of her home around a year and a half ago. “I woke up one morning, looked out of the window and the car wasn’t there,” she told the LDRS.

Jill claims police closed the case around two hours after she reported the theft. “It was shocking,” she said, adding that she believed a gang may have hacked the key fobs of her car and other nearby vehicles.

Jill said people she spoke to at a local café told her several others had suffered similar thefts, with some not reporting them because they “didn’t think it would do anything”.

She said the experience left her concerned that the police’s approach meant other connections were being missed. “My concern is their inability to make links between cases if they close them so quickly,” she said.

The Met’s recent figures show the scale of the challenge, with 2,270 vehicles reported stolen across Sutton and Croydon between July 2025 and July 2026. Just 30 of these cases resulted in a positive outcome, such as an offender being charged or convicted.

Croydon recorded 1,798 vehicle theft offences during the period, the highest number of any London borough, while Sutton recorded considerably fewer offences and ranked 30th for car crime in London.

The figures have prompted criticism from Bobby Dean, Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, who described the level of positive outcomes as an “appalling record”. He said they risk sending a message to organised criminals that car theft in London has been “effectively decriminalised”.

Despite welcoming Sutton’s relatively low rate of car theft compared with other parts of London, Mr Dean said every unresolved theft represented an injustice for victims. “People want to know that if their car is stolen, the police will investigate and bring those responsible to justice,” he said.

“Instead, when I speak to victims they say the police show up and simply give them a crime reference number.”

“We urgently need to restore community policing,” he added. “For too long police teams have been left overstretched and underfunded.”

The Metropolitan Police said it understood the “significant impact of car theft, from financial loss to the inconvenience to those who rely on vehicles”. A spokesperson told the LDRS: “Through targeted patrols in theft hotspots across South London, and using intelligence to identify repeat offenders, we continue to reduce neighbourhood crime.”

The Met said that theft across London had fallen by 21 per cent since April 2025. It urged people to report vehicle theft “as soon as possible” so officers can respond quickly, maximise opportunities for recovery and take offenders off London’s streets.

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