Easy target for criminals

Britons buy £247million of goods from illegal street traders* 6.5 million UK adults have purchased items from criminals on the street Purchasing stolen goods provides ‘oxygen’ to burglars warns Halifax Home Insurance Car boot sales highlighted as nation’s stolen goods hot spot New research* published today by Halifax Insurance reveals that criminals have an alarmingly easy job selling goods illegally on the streets of Britain. Staggeringly, more than one-in-three (37%) people who have been illegally approached to buy goods on a British street said they’d put moral considerations aside in pursuit of a bargain. In total 6.5 million Britons have admitted to spending £247million on goods from unlicensed street traders.  Only one-in-five adults (20%) that have purchased goods illegally in the street sought to qualify their origin.   An overwhelming 85% of them also said it made no difference if the items appeared to have been stolen from someone’s home.  Reformed criminal Bob Turney, now a probation officer in Reading, comments on the findings: “As a probation officer I see an endless stream of cases relating to stolen goods - which are definitely being sold openly on our streets - in most cases to complete strangers.