West Belfast is North's car crime capital

West Belfast was today revealed as the car crime capital of Northern Ireland, despite the success of a major police crackdown.

Car crime accounted for almost 10% of all crime recorded in the area and 7.5% of all vehicles stolen in Northern Ireland were taken from there - 22% of all vehicles recovered in the North were found in west Belfast, said police.

They revealed that 354 vehicles had been stolen in the area so far this year and 1,141 recovered there.

Huge police operations have kept the figures down to the current level. They were reduced by 32% last year and 24% so far this year.

A special auto crime team set up in July this year had already made 122 arrests, police revealed.

Acting Superintendent Peter Farrar said car crime was a "scourge on the entire community which brought nothing but misery and waste to people who deserved better".

He said police were mounting high visibility deterrent patrols, offering crime prevention advice through leaflet drops and personal contacts, liaising with interested parties and opposing bail applications for repeat offenders.

“Our efforts are beginning to have an impact,” he said, adding: “We would urge everyone in the community to work in partnership with us to make further inroads into this problem.”

As the details were released cab drivers from nationalist and loyalist areas of west Belfast banded together today in an unprecedented show of solidarity to protest against car crime.

A motorcade of cabbies wound its way around the city and past City Hall to protest and campaigners are expected to meet PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde next week to discuss the problem.

Campaign co-ordinator Tommy Holland said they wanted to show their abhorrence at what car thieves and joyriders were doing to their community.