Cars and bikes stolen in Southport over the weekend.

Police are investigating the theft of two cars in a car key burglary that took place in Birkdale shortly after midnight Saturday 23rd to Sunday 24th October. A white Audi Q3 and a black Audi S3 were taken after offenders forced a rear door lock to gain entry to obtain keys, which were hung up. 

CSI have attended and today, PCSO's have conducted local enquiries. If you live in the immediate vicinity of the address you will have received a 'Burglary Alert Warning Letter' appealing for witnesses or CCTV. If you have any information that may help the investigation please contact us via the phone number on the letter. 

If you have high value vehicles, it is worth considering adding trackers to them, but also more basic items like driveway posts, steering locks or wheel clamps may be good deterrents to use overnight. 

In addition to this, we are also investigating three shed burglaries. The first was also overnight Saturday 23rd to Sunday 24th on Claremont Road in Birkdale. Two more were reported to have occurred between midnight to 06:00am on Montrose Drive and Cambridge Avenue. Bikes appear to have been the main targets of these burglaries and two bikes and some electrical equipment were stolen. At one location a garage alarm sounded and the offenders left empty-handed. 

PCSO's have contacted the victims and conducted letter-drops in the immediate areas, appealing for witnesses and/Or CCTV. 

After some success in recovering 15 stolen bikes a few months ago, we saw a vast reduction in reports of shed burglaries. Sadly, the methods used suggest the same offenders are back in business again, and with the run up to Christmas and new bike purchases, it is going to be really important to register the frame numbers of bikes, new and old on the national Bike Register database here https://crowd.in/UvbuNX

Bike owners are strongly advised to do this and to secure bikes EVERY TIME they are left, even when in a shed or garage with the best quality lock you can afford. Thieves will cut through cable locks with bolt cutters. Steel 'D' locks offer the best resistance to being cut off this way.