CENTRAL Ballarat has won the dubious honour of the most likely spot in the city’s boundaries to have your car stolen.
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A whopping 153 cars were stolen from Ballarat’s central suburbs between July 2014 and June 2015, followed by 63 in Wendouree, 35 in Sebastopol, 30 in Delacombe and 25 in Alfredton.
The figures from the Crime Statistics Agency also showed that although central Ballarat recorded the most cars stolen, the numbers had actually reduced in the past five years from 201 in 2010-2011. Yet in other hotspot suburbs, thefts were on the rise.
Wendouree was up from 51, Sebastopol from 29, Delacombe from 27 and Alfredton from five. Across the entire city, car thefts had increased from 340 five years ago to 421 in 2014-2015.
Take extra care if you’ve got a Holden – these were the most stolen car types in 2014-2015 with 91 thefts, followed by 66 Fords, 61 Toyotas, 31 Mitsubishis and 24 Nissans. BMWs were the least likely to be stolen, with just nine thefts for the year.
The Courier is waiting on response from Ballarat police regarding the statistics.
Invermay hairdresser Geoff Johnson is just one of the numbers making up the grim statistics – his treasured $30,000 2009 black Jaguar was stolen from his home on the night of the Melbourne Cup.
The theft was part of a horror run for the 52-year-old, who had purchased the luxury vehicle as a birthday present to himself after years of hard work.
His daughter’s car was also stolen from her Mt Clear home the same night. Also, Mr Johnson had just broken his leg and recently had his barber shop window smashed at his Bridge Mall location by a vandal, raking up an unpleasant $1370 bill.
He woke up about 2am after enjoying cup festivities to his dog barking ferociously.
Mr Johnson ran downstairs and opened the garage door to see his beloved vehicle “going backwards at 100 miles an hour”.
He said his prized car was unique in Ballarat.
“I’ll be at a traffic lights and a young guy will stop and give me the thumbs up.
“Yesterday at work I was just devastated. I was flat as a tack. You feel violated.”
A resident from Ballarat North, who wished to remain unnamed, had a luckier outcome. Her late 90s Subaru Liberty wagon was stolen on Monday but was retrieved by Ballarat police undamaged.
Ballarat UltraTune store manager Robert Radke said newer cars with sophisticated immobilisation systems would likely only be targeted by professional thieves.
For older cars targeted by amateurs for joyriding, he suggested steering wheel locks or installing a hidden kill switch.