'Thieves broke into my car - to take parcel shelf'

A woman has said it was "crazy" her car was broken into for a parcel shelf that was listed for sale online within hours.

Sam Phipps, who lives in Bounds Green, north London, said it cost £800 to replace the rear window and shelf - and it took weeks due to backlogs caused by demand for replacement windows in the area.

She said people just could not believe cars were being broken into just for the shelves.

The Met Police opened an investigation following a number of parcel shelves being stolen from cars in Hampstead and Highgate, the force said.

Phipps told BBC Radio London her car was targeted despite only having her gym bag, out of sight, in the boot. She decided not to claim on her insurance because of the cost of the excess.

She said: "It didn't look like anything had been missing initially until we noticed the retractable parcel shelf had been removed.

"We had to wait weeks for the new window because it's such a common problem in north London that the demand for the windows was just exceeding their ability to supply them.

"We were told, if we replaced it, to take the parcel shelf out at night."

Shelves can fetch up to £150 online. By the time her car had been fixed, Phipps had already tracked down the seller's address after some online sleuthing.

She added: "We looked on eBay and there were hundreds of them available and, strangely, we found one that was our exact model, the exact year, and it had been placed that morning after ours had been stolen the day before.

"I did a bit of research and found the seller on Instagram and it was probably a girl in her early 20s, and the address of the seller was a flat on Caledonian Road, which is about 20 minutes from us."

Asked whether she confronted the thief, she replied: "I just left it to karma".

A Met Police spokesperson said the force had made "significant progress" in tackling vehicle crime and that all reported incidents were investigated.

A spokesperson for the mayor of London said thefts from vehicles were down by almost 20% in 2025 compared to the previous year.

They added there were 16,000 fewer neighbourhood crimes committed in total, driven by a fall in personal robbery, theft and vehicle crime.

They added it was "clear there's more to do" and Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan had recently announced plans to boost spending for the Met to enhance officer visibility and presence.

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