An interactive map shows how many car crimes have been reported across Southend.

As society starts to unlock again, people will start to explore different parts of the county to visit loved ones, have a long-awaited haircut and visit their favourite pub.

But how do you know the safest streets to park in if you're new to an area?

A tool created by Co-op Insurance, which can be found through this link, has revealed the number of vehicle crimes in any area - and what roads it is happening in the most.

Vehicle crimes is a broad term, but it can be anything from vehicle theft, theft from a vehicle and vandalism.

Echo:

How does the tool work?

The interactive map uses data published by the Home Office covering July 2020 to December 2020.

Users can search crime rates in their area by entering a postcode or location into the search bar.

The results are displayed in three coloured circles: red indicates an area that has had six or more incidents, orange shows streets that have seen three to five car crimes and yellow means there have been between zero and two incidents.

If you're planning on travelling further afield, the data spans across England and Wales.

Read more:

A broad look at Southend area shows there were more than 500 car crimes reported in the last six months of last year.

More than 320 of those occurred in central parts of the borough such as Southend, Southchurch and Westcliff.

There was another 169 in Leigh, Chalkwell and Eastwood, as well as 78 in Thorpe Bay and Shoebury.

Unsuprisingly, the highest number of car crimes were reported in public car parks or along main roads.

But there are also a number of smaller, residential streets where multiple incidents were reported.

Below is a list of streets and roads which saw three or more car crimes in the borough:

  • A127 (between Southend and Eastwood) -7
  • Tesco Extra car park off Prince Avenue – 7
  • Appletree Close – 5
  • Herbert Grove – 5
  • Sutton Road – 5
  • Waitrose/ John Lewis car park off Fossetts Way – 5
  • Gloucester Ter – 4
  • Ronald Hill Grove - 4
  • South Avenue - 4
  • Southchurch Boulevard – 4
  • Southend Hospital – 4
  • Thornford Gardens - 4
  • Aviation Way – 3
  • Blenheim Chase – 3
  • Castle Drive – 3
  • Comet Way – 3
  • Cromwell Road - 3
  • Grange Road – 3
  • Grovelands – 3
  • Hadleigh Road – 3
  • Keith Way – 3
  • Manners Way – 3
  • Maple Avenue – 3
  • Plymtree – 3
  • Priory Avenue – 3
  • Priory Cres – 3
  • Retort Close – 3
  • Station Road – 3
  • Westbourne Grove – 3
  • Westminster Drive - 3

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