Police are investigating 20 fresh reports of vehicle break-ins in the Boston and South Holland area, as the spate of van crime continues across the county.

Police are investigating 20 incidents reported since midnight on February 8, where vans were broken into or damaged by an attempt break in.

Incidents have been reported in:

  • Crowland x 2
  • Holbeach x 7
  • Surfleet x 2
  • Spalding
  • Weston
  • Deeping St Nicholas x 3
  • Kirton x 2
  • Pinchbeck
  • Gosberton

A further incident of arson in Holbeach is also being investigated, where two vans were set alight after it is believed they too were stolen from.

Police previously warned owners of Ford Transit vans after a string of thefts in the Lincoln area. Many of the vehicles were later found burnt out after being stripped of parts.

This comes after over 50 reports of van crime were reported to Lincolnshire Police in Lincoln and surrounding areas in August and September 2017.

Between August 1 and September 12, 30 tool thefts were reported in Lincoln and West Lindsey, with a further 20 more in North and South Kesteven.

Keeping your van safe

You can help protect your van by parking securely ideally in garages or well lit areas and consider if there are areas you could park that are covered by CCTV.

Remove tools over night if possible and consider parking up against a wall to prevent access.

Officers are also asking local people to report any suspicious activity, with those witnessing a crime in action asked call 999.

PC Nicola Lilley said: “We have suffered a significant number of break-ins to work vans (mainly white Ford Transits) using a number of methods to gain entry but the majority have had tools stolen.

“All have occurred over night in the hours of darkness.”

The top 10 streets for parking fines in the county has been revealed after a new figures showed 15,000 parking tickets were issued in Lincolnshire in the last six months.

Of the streets which feature in the list, three are in Lincoln.

According to figures from Lincolnshire County Council, between July 2017 and December 2017 some 15,212 parking tickets were issued, with Lincoln having the highest rate over the last six months.

Take a look at the top 10 worst streets for parking fines between July and December 2017:

  1. Market Place, Boston 573 PCNs
  2. Broad Street, Stamford 366 PCNs
  3. Bath Row, Stamford 293 PCNs
  4. Silver Street, Lincoln 293 PCNs
  5. Eastgate, Louth 273 PCNs
  6. Lumley Road, Skegness 269 PCNs
  7. Grantham Street, Lincoln 228 PCNs
  8. West Street, Boston 215 PCNs
  9. Westgate, Grantham 194 PCNs
  10. Waterside South, Lincoln 192 PCNs

Despite 15,212 tickets being issued, only 14,350 remained active, with a number being challenged and then revoked.

From this, £494,958 was taken, with the money then being used to meet the costs of running the service and any surplus ring-fenced.

In 2017, there was a surplus of £68,000 from PCNs, which is now being used to finance the CCTV pilot project currently taking place at selected schools across the county.

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