Sunday, 22 January 2012

TRACKER System Finds Graham Norton's stolen Lexus RX 450h!

Star appeals to fans to find his Lexus, but TRACKER gets their first!

TV and radio celebrity, Graham Norton, had his car stolen after thieves broke into his home and stole the keys to his black Lexus hybrid RX 450h. Despite an appeal to his radio and twitter fans to find his car, it was the installed Stolen Vehicle Recovery unit (SVR), operated by TRACKER, the UK’s leading stolen vehicle recovery specialist, that led police to the missing vehicle.

The car was stolen from outside Graham Norton’s home in East London, along with a number of items from inside the house. After announcing the theft on his BBC Radio 2 show and asking fans to keep an eye out for the car, the twittersphere leapt into action with the hashtag ‘findgrahamscar’. Luckily, the vehicle was fitted with TRACKER’s unique stolen vehicle recovery device, which was activated and the Lexus was found in Wandsworth, West London, by police.

“I was surprised and delighted that TRACKER recovered my car so quickly,” says Graham Norton. “I thought we might have foiled the thieves through the power of Twitter, but luckily with the TRACKER device, we rescued my car from the hands of the thieves. It was shocking to think that the criminals break into your home and steal your keys, allowing them to drive off with your car and all your valuables. I’d recommend TRACKER to anyone who wants to protect their car from theft.”

“Graham Norton is well known for his brand of cheeky humour, but this time it was the thieves who were cheeky, after they stole his car using the keys,” explains Stuart Chapman, TRACKER’s Police Relationships Manager. “Mr Norton is lucky that his car was fitted with our state-of-the-art tracking security technology, which means he had the last laugh when police recovered his vehicle. We are the only stolen vehicle recovery provider working with all 52 police forces in the UK and once again, this has proved critical to our success.

“The problem of car thefts involving keys has been rising for a number of years. We saw the figure rise from 74% to 84% in just 2 years*, clearly demonstrating how stealing a car by simply breaking into it has become much more challenging for criminals – leading them to find other, more invasive ways of stealing a vehicle. As in Mr Norton’s case, the reality is that many criminals now need to break into a home to steal vehicle keys.”