It’s barely enough time to make a cup of tea, yet that is all it took for organised criminals to change the full-time carer’s life by stealing her Toyota in the middle of the night, in January 2024.

The crooks were caught on CCTV removing the headlight bulb from the 2021-model C-HR’s computer system, before plugging in a dark web device disguised as a Bluetooth speaker.

The tiny computer replicates the car’s key fob, allowing them to unlock the car, start it up, and take it away to be ripped up for parts.

Kaye, 47, awoke the next morning to find her driveway empty.

And despite being caught on camera, there was nothing the police could do, though experts fear cops are not taking car smash and grabs seriously enough.

In fact, a Sun probe has learned that forces are dropping more than 90 per cent of investigations within weeks in some hotspot areas.

Shocking figures show the true scale of car crime, with 275,486 probes ended last year.

Of those, a staggering 236,602 were shut down without a suspect even being identified, compared to just 8,360 where a criminal was charged and hauled to court.

Police are known to prioritise more serious thefts, like burglaries or violent attacks, but having a vehicle nicked in such ruthless fashion is still a traumatising experience.

Kaye, who had bought the car to ferry mum Margaret, 84, to the shops and hospital appointments, suddenly had to deal with a police probe, an insurance claim, and having no vehicle.

The mum, of Dartford, Kent, said: “It’s disgusting – they don’t care about car crime, because they say we all have insurance, but the premiums go up every year, so we’re all paying for that too.

“At the time, I was too shocked to think about it, but all of these cars can be stolen too easily. Something has to be done. When it happened, I got the footage and it was in and out in two minutes.

“We reported it to the police, and they gave us a reference number. A policeman rang me up, told me to send the CCTV, but said it would probably be long gone and out of the country on a ferry in a container.

“But if that’s the case, why aren’t they monitoring the port of Tilbury? They know what’s going on, but they don’t do anything about it.

“The night my car was stolen, three others were nicked too. But it felt like nobody gave a toss. It made me unsettled and I felt unsafe in my own home. I was in total disbelief.”

Kaye replaced her £30,000 new car with a used £11,000 Toyota Yaris with 50,000 miles on the clock, figuring that her replacement car was far less likely to be nabbed by ruthless thieves.

But, she says, even older cars are being stolen from her neighbourhood, meaning she does not know if she will be a target again.

Kaye went on: “I still have the trauma now – whenever I park my car, and I briefly forget where it is, I get really worried that it’s been stolen again. The idea it could be me again is terrifying, but I know it could happen.

“There’s no punishment for stealing cars. These gangs can do what they want, and they get away with it.

“The government have to take it more seriously but they won’t, because it would actually require some work. I’ll never buy a new or expensive car again because there’s no point.”

With police forces already stretched to breaking point, frontline officers are struggling to keep pace with the technology deployed by highly organised syndicates.

Our analysis of police data shows some 176,371 investigations were closed within weeks of a report being made without a crook being identified.

And in 67 “red zone” neighbourhoods, more than 90 per cent of investigations were ended unsolved in the same month they were opened.

They included 26 areas with five or more cases where every single car break-in or vehicle theft failed to find a suspect and was still closed within four weeks.

And police failed to solve a single car raid in around half of the country’s neighbourhoods, analysis of data from 43 forces shows.

The data includes thefts of cars and car break-ins where valuable items are stolen, but the vehicle is left behind.

Experts believe criminal gangs have become so good at stealing from motors that the chances of finding a smash and grab raider are close to none.

Cars that are stolen are often nicked to order, brutally dismantled in dodgy back-street “chop shops”, and then shipped for sale in the UAE, Congo, Cyprus, and Nigeria.

It means a recovery of the whole car is often impossible.

The sheer number of crimes that go unsolved means brash gangs are growing bolder by targeting leafy London suburbs and stealing cars from the driveways of £1million homes.

Overall, the area where a car raid was least likely to be solved was Stonebridge in North London, where 302 offences were investigated without a single one being solved.

Of those, 212, seven in ten, were shut down by Met Police cops in the same month they were reported.

Other hotspots in the capital were Ealing Common, Battersea Park and Crouch End.

Outside of London car theft hot spots include Birmingham, which has seen 557 stolen cars per 100,000, and Smethwick, West Mids, which has had 514 thefts out of every 100,000 cars, according to the RAC.

Last year, 114,903 cars were stolen in the UK, nearly 20 per cent more than five years ago.

Experts estimate one car is stolen every eight and a half minutes.

Adding insult to injury, the sinister gadgets used by these gangs are shockingly easy to buy online.

The dark web and encrypted messaging apps are flooded with illegal sellers flogging “keyless repeaters” allowing simple access to a parked and locked car.

For as little as £4,000, the tools will unlock dozens of different makes and models, effectively giving gangs a master key to millions of driveways.

The RAC told The Sun that the Government should make reducing car thefts a priority, with motors a lifeline for working-class commuters, young families and the most vulnerable.

The motorists’ group’s head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “Having your car stolen can be devastating, cutting off a vital lifeline for those who use their car for work, or for those who use it simply to get around.

“This data paints a concerning picture for motorists, with at least nine-in-10 car break-ins or car robberies showing ‘case closed’ after a matter of weeks.

“More needs to be done to protect hard-working and law-abiding citizens who should be able to get up in the morning and find their car outside their homes where they left it.”

Earlier this month, The Sun on Sunday told how even older car models are now being stolen and hacked apart for their components.

Lynda Waldron, 73, had two motors pinched in 18 months.

In June, the 73-year-old, from Beccles, East Suffolk, broke down in her Renault Kangoo near her home and, when she returned to collect it, the car had disappeared.

Lynda, who is disabled, also had a Smart car vanish without trace from near her home in March 2025.

She said: “Both cars were each worth only hundreds of pounds, so no-one would have wanted to buy them, and the Kangoo had broken down.

“So it makes sense that they were worth more in parts. I’m certain they’ve been cut into pieces.”

ACC Sarah Grahame, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, insisted officers were trying hard to seize stolen cars and return them.

The top cop told The Sun: “We know that vehicle crime seriously impacts individuals, families and businesses who rely on their vehicles for transport and often to generate income.

“Our most recent Operation Alliances resulted in over 350 arrests, the seizure of more than £3m of stolen vehicles, vehicle parts estimated to be worth £13.2m and the uncovering of many illegal chop shops.

“While we are making significant strides in tackling the offenders who commit these crimes, our ultimate goal is always to prevent it happening in the first place, which is where our work with communities and manufacturers is so crucial.

“Criminals are increasingly sophisticated, and this presents challenges, but we are fully committed to tackling the issue from all angles.”

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