In total, 44,514 incidents of tool theft were reported to police forces in 2023, a five per cent increase from 2022, which equates to a tool theft reported every 12 minutes.

Last year saw 24,543 reports of tool theft from a vehicle, up 14 per cent from the previous year, accounting for over half (55 per cent) of all tool thefts in 2023.

This comes even though 94 per cent of tradespeople are taking extra precautions to secure their tools, with tradespeople spending on average £626 retrofitting their vans with additional security including additional locks, drill plates, trackers and alarms. 

Over half (56 per cent) of tool thefts from a vehicle occur at night, with thefts most commonly occurring while the vehicle is parked overnight at the tradesperson’s home or in a carpark. 

Tool theft has a massive financial impact on tradespeople. As well as the cost of replacing tools, 83 per cent say they lost business because of theft and not having their tools to work.

Tradespeople reported losing work worth an average £1,836 the last time their tools were stolen, meaning an estimated £82 million worth of jobs were lost by trades in 2023.

London’s Metropolitan Police accounted for over half (54 per cent) of all tool theft, but when the size of the local population is assessed, Cleveland police had more tool thefts per resident than London.

Police forces with the highest levels of tool theft per resident in 2023:

Source: Direct Line business insurance

Tool theft according to the data is seasonal, typically peaking after the clocks go back in October, with 4,517 thefts in this month last year, usually hitting a low in April when the clocks move forward.

The same pattern is visible for tool theft from vans, with a peak of 2,511 in October 2023, compared with 1,632 in April.