CAR vandalism in Greater Manchester increased by more than 30 per cent in three years.

In 2013 there was 10,670 reports of cars being criminally damaged in the Greater Manchester Police area but this rose by 37 per cent to 14,588 last year.

This includes incidents of deliberate scratches, slashed tyres, snapped windscreen wipers, damaged wing mirrors and broken windows.

This was the largest increase across seen by any police force during this period, Hertfordshire Constabulary and West Yorkshire Police both saw increases of 25 per cent to put them second.

The 14,588 offences recorded in Greater Manchester was also the second highest total in the country, behind only the Metropolitan Police where 26,064 offences were recovered.

In total across the UK, 210,418 cars were vandalised in 2016, up around 10 per cent from the 191,180 recorded in 2013.

Twenty-four police forces nationally saw an increase in car vandalism while 12 saw a decrease, Surrey Police saw no change in the volume of cases.

The figures were compiled by the RAC through Freedom of Information Requests sent to each force.

RAC insurance director,Mark Godfrey, said: “Vandalism is one of the most frustrating and annoying crimes. Just a moment of selfish intentional criminal damage causes vehicle owners no end of grief.

“Not only do many motorists who experience this have to go through the insurance claims process and the time-consuming and inconvenient experience of getting the vehicle repaired, they will also suffer an inevitable premium rise and then have to declare the claim for three years whenever they apply for a new policy.

“In reality, however, the overall figure for the number of vehicles vandalised is probably far higher as many motorists may neither report it to the police nor claim on insurance for fear of causing their next insurance premium to go up.

“The cost of repairing vehicles is now greater than it’s ever been and this has had an impact on the price of car insurance. Sadly though, this is just one factor that is causing average premiums to go up.

“The others include insurance fraud from staged accidents and dubious whiplash claims, insurance premium tax doubling to 12 per cent in two years and the change to the discount rate for life-changing personal injury compensation claims.

“In terms of motorists protecting their vehicles against vandalism there is unfortunately very little they can do being the result of a very deliberate action, or mindless stupidity, or drunkenness. There are, however, a few basic precautions that can be taken to limit the chances of it happening.

“During the day try to park in well used areas and at night go for well-lit streets away from pubs and clubs if at all possible, and if you have access to a garage use it.

“It’s also good advice to use car parks that carry the ‘Park Mark’ Safer Parking symbol which means there are measures in place to ensure the safety of people and vehicles.

“Should you be unlucky enough to have your vehicle vandalised take pictures of it, report it to the police and get a crime reference number as this will help with any subsequent insurance claim.”