Thieves go Wireless: Pickpockets eye headliner British festivals
As UK festival season rolls around, new data reveals a less-celebrated chart-topper: phone theft. London’s biggest music events – including Wireless, BST Hyde Park, and Summertime Ball – have been ranked the worst in the country for festival pickpocketing, with theft rates more than five times the national average.
The research, conducted by QR Code Generator using police data, found that these London events see a staggering 11.5 thefts per 1,000 attendees, dwarfing the national festival average of 1.9.
Manchester’s Parklife came in just under the average of 1.8, while Creamfields proved the safest large event, with just 0.3 thefts per 1,000 attendees.
The bigger the crowd, the bigger the targets
The report suggests that festival goers are increasingly being targeted in dense crowds, particularly at high-profile urban events where the crush of people makes it easy for thieves to operate unnoticed.
“Your mobile can disappear in seconds when you’re enjoying a packed festival”, warned chief executive of QR Code Generator, Marc Porcar. “Thieves work crowds looking for easy marks – unzipped bags, phones in back pockets, or devices theft charging in tents”.
Porcar says many underestimate the risk of leaving smartphones unattended at campsites or even inside their tents: “Leaving your phone charging in an empty tent is practically begging for it to be stolen”.
The report comes just days before the UK’s most anticipated festival, Glastonbury, where over 200,000 people are expected to descend on Worthy Farm.
And with new research suggesting phone mishaps could cost festival goers more than £22m this year, the stakes are high: According to Compare and Recycle, an estimated 46,200 attendees may lose or damage their phones during the event.
Police crack down as thefts surge
The warning follows a wider national crackdown on phone theft, with London’s Metropolitan Police recently discovering over 1,000 stolen handsets during a one-week operation.
The Met says the trade in stolen phones is now worth an estimated £50m a year, with many devices sold or exported overseas.
Commander Owain Richards, who led the operation, called for stronger action from tech firms: “We’re working with other agencies and the government to tackle the organised criminality driving this trade and calling on tech firms to make stolen phones unusable”.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has also vowed to introduce tougher security measures and faster policing powers, calling it “totally unacceptable” that people feel unsafe carrying phones out across the country.