The number of vehicle thefts in Dyfed-Powys has almost doubled in four years, police have revealed.

This comes as almost all police forces in Britain recorded an increase in vehicle thefts.

For Dyfed-Powys Police, the number went up from 23 in 2014/15 to 45 in 2018/19.

Despite the increase, the region still has the lowest amount of vehicle thefts out of all the police forces in Britain to respond to Freedom of Information requests. They're tied with Lincolnshire, who actually recorded a decrease in vehicle thefts.

Overall in Britain, thefts have risen by 56 per cent.

The largest rises were in the force areas of Metropolitan Police (up 9,635 to 30,773), West Midlands (up 5,677 to 10,372) and Greater Manchester (up 3,205 to 6,223).

RAC Insurance spokesman Simon Williams said: "These figures paint a rather disturbing picture. Vehicle thefts are on the rise almost everywhere, and in some parts of the country numbers are rocketing.

"It's also not the case that the rises in crime are confined to a few larger urban areas, with many police forces covering more rural areas also seeing big increases.

"While vehicle crime is at far lower levels today than it was in the early 1990s thanks to improvements in vehicle security, and the number of vehicles licensed to be driven on the UK's roads is higher than at any point in the past, it's still concerning that so many more vehicles are being stolen than just a few years ago."

He believes the increase is partly due to a rise in thefts of vehicles that are easier to steal, such as motorbikes and mopeds which are less likely to have immobilisers.

Government data shows that thieves use a key in nearly half of incidents, indicating that many drivers can do more to protect their vehicles.

Mr Williams went on: "While organised criminal gangs are responsible for a large proportion of crime, thieves will also be opportunistic in nature so the more a driver can do to make their car a less likely target the better."