'Safe plate' days to secure your car

Motorists in Rochdale are being urged to attend a series of car crime clinics to prevent number plates being stolen.

The first will take place in the car park of Littlebourough Police Station on Featherstall Road on Sunday (1 March) from 11am to 4pm, and will be supervised by officers from the Pennine Neighbourhood Policing Team.

“There have been 39 number plates stolen across the borough since January," said Inspector Jem Davies of the Pennine Neighbourhood Policing Team. "Offenders are stealing the plates to clone cars to commit other crimes such as driving off from petrol stations without paying and robberies.

“Victims might not be aware of what has happened until speeding and parking tickets start arriving in the post. They could face difficulties convincing authorities that it was not their car being used,”

The ‘Safe Plate’ events involve Police Community Support Officers fitting special one-way screws to registration plates free of charge. The screws, which cannot be easily removed, are then covered with a security cap as an added deterrent.

Inspector Davies added: “I would urge people to attend the clinics, because having these screws fitted is a simple measure that will reduce the risk of cars being targeted and costs nothing.”

Tomorrow (Friday 28 February) and on Thursday 5 March there will be a Mobile Pod around the Deeplish area offering crime prevention advice and safe plating, while there will be further car crime clinics at ASDA, Dane street on Monday (2 March) from 9am to 1pm, and at Rochdale Infirmary car park on Friday 20 March from 9am to noon.