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Home Haverhill News Article catalytic converter co granular
A woman left with a £600 repair bill when her car’s catalytic converter was stolen while parked at a rail station has been left angered after being told it would not be investigated.
The cat converter was removed from her old Mazda MX5 on October 27 while it was near the entrance to the car park at Audley End Rail Station, near Saffron Walden.
The car’s owner, who lives in the Haverhill area but asked not to be named, was left with a £600 repair bill after considerable damage was caused to the exhaust and the base where the thieves jacked up the vehicle, without using a jack point.
Having reported it to British Transport Police (BTP), she received a letter of response which stated: “It is not proportionate to investigate this crime any further at this time.
“We have based our assessment on the following: the vehicle has been left for at least two hours.”
The car’s owner said: “I would say that since most commuters park for over two hours, it would therefore follow that the investigation by BTP of vehicle crimes are extremely limited. Happy days for criminals.”
She added: “BTP can’t justify someone looking through hours of CCTV.”
A spokesman for the British Transport Police confirmed the theft, then added: “The force has to make difficult decisions to ensure that policing resources are proportionate to the threat, risk, and harm of an incident.
“Each crime has to be assessed on these factors as well as solvability factors and the likeliness of a possible prosecution.
“Whilst we know that offences such as these can be costly and cause distress, there is often limited opportunity for investigation.
“Officers conduct a test of proportionality to offences – looking at factors such as the availability of CCTV, the impact on the victim or whether there is a realistic prospect of a successful outcome.
“In this case, it was deemed not proportionate to investigate this crime any further.”
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