The criminals work under the cover of night, methodically dismembering their targets until all that’s left is bare bones. In the morning, the victims will know the “Corsa Cannibals” have called. It might sound like a horror movie, but according to news reports, these are gangsters stripping hundreds of Vauxhall cars down to their chassis.
The crime spree started two years ago in Bedfordshire, where more than 500 Vauxhall Corsas and Astras had body parts removed. In 150 cases, the thieves were so thorough in their dissection that it wasn’t economically viable to repair them. Cars were typically targeted between 2 and 4am, outside their owners’ homes or on garage forecourts. Now the crime wave is said to have moved to Teesside, with more than 25 cars taken apart in the past three months.
Vauxhall says there are no design or security issues that would make their cars particularly susceptible to this, but criminals are said to be making big profits selling the components on the body-repair market – and are choosing parts that would typically need to be replaced after accidents. According to Cleveland Police, the gang is targeting red sports models in particular – with three Corsas left “unrecognisable” between Sunday and Monday alone last week.
Glenn Rowswell, the online editor of Fast Car magazine, points out that the Corsa is popular with younger, more inexperienced drivers, who might be more likely to need replacement parts. “It is a model of car that is quite often in accidents, meaning there is a big market for replacement panels, which can be very expensive from the manufacturer.”
Sporty models, meanwhile, could be profitable because there is a market for “replica” or “lookalike” cars: when lower-spec cars are “upgraded” by their owners to look like better models. “From a distance, they look the same,” explains Rowswell, ”but most car enthusiasts would be able to tell it’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing.” High-end seats from cars such as Audis, he points out, have also been targeted.
On Teesside, one Corsa owner awoke to find his car pushed on to nearby grassland – without its bonnet, bumper, front lights, wheels, seats, airbag and steering column. Even his car mats had been removed. In another case in Bedfordshire, CCTV footage showed two men on a residential street calmly removing the entire front of a car, only stopping when they couldn’t carry any more parts. Now Vauxhall owners are being told to park their vehicles in well-lit areas – in case the next thing to go bump in the night is their car.
