£17.5 million of tools stolen in London last year

Almost £57,000 of tools were stolen every day in 2020, according to data from the Metropolitan police.

Tool theft has cost tradesmen in London more than £38 million in the last two years, and £17.5 million in 2020 alone, the data collated by London plant hire specialists Herts Tools revealed. There were 28,338 tool thefts reported across London from 2019 up to May 2021.

Barnet, Enfield, Ealing, Waltham Forest and Haringey are the five boroughs where figures were highest, with thefts in Barnet (1,917) accounting for nearly 15% of the total.

By contrast, Merton (475), Richmond upon Thames (439), Hammersmith and Fulham (371), Kensington and Chelsea (371) and Kingston upon Thames (327) suffered the fewest tool thefts.

Thieves are 10 times more likely to steal powered hand tools than non-powered hand tools, with 32,067 taken from 2019 to 2021, compared to 2,993 non-powered hand tools.

Only 1% of those powered hand tools were recovered, underlining the need to prevent theft in the first place, Herts Tools added.

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