Now the credit crunch is a handy excuse for the criminal elements. The people who risk their own worthless lives to steal valuable copper and lead for instance, don't care that they often leave dangerous situations behind. If someone falls down a drain and gets badly injured because the metal cover has been stolen that's just their hard luck, apparently. Neither does it worry them if they plunge areas of the city into darkness because they've stolen power cables.

Now thieves are filling up their cars and then screeching out of petrol stations without paying. That's bad enough, but some of them are stealing the number plates off other people's cars to make sure they aren't identified by garage CCTV cameras. This leaves innocent motorists with the cost of replacing their number plates, and perhaps even facing questioning.

It's no surprise garages are considering bringing in a pay-first-petrol-later system with a card slot on pumps to stop the racket. That means once more the rest of us would be inconvenienced, thanks to a few crooks. Read the full story: Peterborough hit by spate of petrol thefts

Motor-iety pays off for driver Sara

THERE are many stories of husbands and wives having driving lesson "domestics". However, in the case of Sara Lowndes and her hubby Alex it paid off when she won a car on the TV show Britain's Worst Driver. Not so bad after all. Read the full story: Worst learner driver wins top prize