Sheffield man drives round city in search of stolen car after becoming latest victim of 'keyless entry' criminals

The Audi A7 was parked outside a house on Hopefield Avenue, Frecheville, when it was stolen.

The keyless entry car, valued at £15,000, was fitted with a body kit, making it look like a high performance RS7 model.

Its owner, a 33-year-old pipe fitter, said the number of keyless entry cars getting stolen in Sheffield is worrying.

Keyless entry cars allow motorists to open their vehicles without needing a key.

But crooks are taking advantage of the new technology and now have ways of driving off in vehicles without having to break in first.

Figures released by South Yorkshire Police earlier this year revealed that between December 7 and January 10, the force received 101 reports of vehicles being stolen without their keys.

The latest victim said: “It is terrible how easy it seems to be for keyless entry vehicles to be stolen.

"A friend of mine had a keyless entry camper van stolen recently even though it was fitted with a crook lock and pedal lock.

“They just appear to be able to drive off in them without any difficulty.

"I’ve reported my theft to the police but they haven’t been out to see me, they just gave me an incident number and said it would flag up on automatic number plate recognition cameras.

“I’m driving around looking for it because I feel that I have to be doing all I can to get it back.”

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