Female vandals admit to damaging cars

Figures released today show an alarming amount of car vandalism is conducted by women. Nearly 1.5 million women admit to deliberately damaging a vehicle. The damage ranges from slashing tyres, breaking-off car parts, smashing windows, scratching paintwork or even denting the bodywork by "car surfing".

The findings from the UK Vandalism Report by Direct Line Car Insurance follows the recent release of figures revealing offences by girls aged between 11 and 17 have risen 50 per cent to 59,000 incidents each year since 2004.

However, cars are not the only target of female vandals, with over 1 million adult women having deliberately damaged public property or someone else's belongings within the last five years alone. The types of vandalism used by women include ‘graffiti' on walls and tampering with road signs or traffic cones.

The trigger driving the so-called ‘fairer sex' to conduct their most recent act of petty vandalism is primarily boredom (23 per cent), while for one-in-ten it is an alcohol fuelled act (9 per cent). The findings of the Vandalism Report reflect recent research into female behaviour which has found the number of women arrested for being drunk and disorderly has soared by up to 1,000 per cent in some regions.

For the majority of women (62 per cent) these were ‘spur of the moment' acts. Eight per cent also revealed they were pressured into deliberately causing damage by their peers.

Psychotherapist Christine Webber comments: ‘This Report suggests levels of stress are getting quite out of control. We should never forget that out-of-control rage could possibly end up in a criminal conviction. That would prove a lot more stressful than taking a decision to tackle stress levels before we lose our rag. When we resort to vandalism we totally lose any moral high-ground we might have had."

Jennifer Culley, spokesperson for Direct Line car insurance comments: "Our UK Vandalism Report suggests the number of female car vandals appears to be part of an overall escalation in the number of car vandalism incidents. The number of motorists who have been victims of car vandalism has risen to nearly a third (30 per cent) of all car owners nationwide, up from one-in-ten (11 per cent) two years ago. The growing trend of ‘girl gang' culture does seem to be responsible for a significant percentage of car vandalism crimes."

"In response to the increase in car vandalism, Direct Line was the first insurer to maintain its customer's No Claims Discount if they are the victim of vandalism. As the credit crunch starts to bite, it is good to know the actions of thugs won't increase your insurance premium."

For further details on Direct Line Motor Insurance and its No Claims Discount, visit directline.com