With the long, dark winter nights due to begin next week vehicle thieves will become more active. A provider of stolen vehicle recovery systems is asking drivers to be extra security conscious as figures reveal that their work increases by a fifth during the dark winter months.

Tracker are the number one supplier of vehicle tracking services in the United Kingdom and have well over one million systems installed which give motorists complete peace of mind. Tracker claim their in cab technology enables them to return nine out of every ten vehicles to its owner and the vast majority of these are done within 24 hours.

The Thatcham approved system works like a homing device, with transmitters hidden in one of several dozen places throughout the vehicle. They are hidden so well that the thief will not even know it’s there and if they do find one transmitter it is highly unlikely they will find all of the others. As a bonus, in the current difficult times, anyone who fits a tracker system may also benefit from a discount on the van insurance premiums. Used by all United Kingdom police forces, tracker will inform the police of the location of the stolen vehicle even if it is hidden in a garage. Firms with vans that are protected with commercial van insurance are taking advantage of the fact that it only takes a few minutes to make the vital but simple changes. If a van is stolen the owners will want it back as soon as possible.

Stuart Chapman, Tracker’s police relationships manager, said “Our figures confirm that the winter’s extra hours of darkness allow more time for thieves to break into vehicles unseen, with November, January and February being the worst months. In 2010, 84% of all the stolen cars recovered by Tracker were taken using the owner’s keys and this danger increases during the winter. Added to this, on frosty mornings many people leave their car unattended with the engine on to defrost the windscreen, making their cars a prime target for thieves. We urge motorists to keep their keys safe at all times and think twice to avoid frost jackers.”