Nick Ferrari's family has been targeted by car thieves once again, with one of his sons falling victim to the UK's vehicle crime epidemic. The LBC presenter revealed that his son's Audi Q8 was stolen on Monday, though it was recovered thanks to a tracking device.
Another Theft in the Family
Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute's (RUSI) Acquisitive Crime Conference 2026, Ferrari disclosed that his son's car was taken but found just five minutes away. 'He had an Audi Q8 and that was nicked on Monday, but it had a tracker on and he found it five minutes away from where he parked it,' Ferrari said. 'The tracker did its job, but he's got thousands of pounds worth of repairs because they ripped open the dashboard to find it.'
This incident follows Ferrari's own experience last May, when his brand new £60,000 Jeep Wrangler was stolen from outside his gated London home. He suspects criminals used a device to bypass the keyless entry system, driving away without a trace. Despite police efforts, the Jeep was never recovered.
The Scale of Vehicle Crime
Car theft gangs often steal vehicles and leave them nearby to check for trackers. If unclaimed, the cars are typically exported abroad and sold on black market dealerships. A new Audi Q8 costs upwards of £67,000. The illegal trade has become a £1.77 billion-a-year scourge, driving an 82 per cent increase in car insurance premium quotes since 2021, according to a RUSI study.
Ferrari praised Scotland Yard for their support in his case but criticised his son's local force, which he described as 'outside London'. 'They couldn't have been more unhelpful,' he told the conference. The 67-year-old broadcaster recalled his own theft as 'desperately unsettling', noting that his voice shook during his first call to police.
Police Response and Government Action
Senior officers later told Ferrari his Jeep likely ended up in a container port like Felixstowe. The Daily Mail previously witnessed police breaking open shipping containers there in search of stolen cars. Gangs steal vehicles to order, often overriding keyless entry systems, then dismantle them in 'chop shops' before shipping parts to the Middle East or Africa, where demand remains high due to Covid-era shortages.
RUSI's report highlighted the international nature of the crisis, with stolen car parts ending up in second-hand dealerships or scrapyards in Cyprus, the UAE, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite the professionalism of these gangs, charging rates have dropped to just 2.6 per cent in 2023/2024. Police forces cite severe resource shortages; the Met Police once had nearly 100 vehicle crime investigators but now has only a 'handful'.
Security minister Dan Jarvis told the RUSI conference that the government is strengthening its response by creating new offences targeting electronic devices used in thefts and increasing enforcement funding. He also claimed the new National Police Service (NPS), described as 'Britain's FBI', would help tackle cross-regional gangs.
