It"s the brainchild...

It"s the brainchild of the Safer Motors team at the West Midlands force. The outfit came up with the idea to catch crooks who clone stolen cars before selling them to innocent motorists. However, it is likely to prove controversial - would you be happy to pose?

Inspector Alison Barton told us: "It"s a new idea, but why wouldn"t someone want their picture taken? It would raise alarm bells with the buyer if the seller refused."

Assistant chief constable Stuart Hyde added: "Recently we found on one page of a national sales magazine three cars which were identified as being stolen. If you multiply that by the number of models on offer, you get an idea of the huge extent of the problem."

West Midlands Police has launched the scheme as part of a wider initiative, and reckons new methods such as this are needed to combat cloned cars because traditional checks aren"t enough. However, officers have warned private purchasers not to rely on a photo alone. "They are very useful from our point of view, but they don"t help a customer who"s had their car repossessed," said Barton. "A vehicle background check is good and can highlight useful information, yet thieves won"t clone a car to another stolen vehicle, so it won"t show up."

Other advice includes visiting the seller"s home address and to avoid paying in cash. A banker"s draft is preferable, as it ensures there"s an audit trail if things go wrong.

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