Motorists urged to attend safe plate days

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 Rochdale Infirmary on Monday 6 April from 10am to 1pm, and will be supervised by officers from the Rochdale North Neighbourhood Policing Team.

Sergeant Brendan Walsh for Rochdale North Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “There were 17 number plates stolen across the borough during March. 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 can then have difficulty convincing authorities that it was not their car being used.”

The Safe Plate days will 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.

Sergeant Walsh 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.”

Details of car crime clinics taking place from April are as follows:

Monday 6 April – 10am to 1pm at Rochdale Infirmary car park

Sunday 19 April – 1 to 4pm at Asda, Dane Street, Rochdale

Tuesday 5 May – 2 to 5pm at Rochdale Infirmary car park

Monday 18 May – 2 to 5pm at Asda, Dane Street, Rochdale

Monday 8 June – 2 to 5pm at Asda, Dane Street, Rochdale

Wednesday 24 June – 2 to 5pm at Rochdale Infirmary car park