Buckhurst Hill is in the top five hot spots for car crime around the country and Ongar is not far behind.

A survey based on ten million car insurance contracts by moneysupermarket.com placed the Buckhurst Hill postcode in fifth place for car thefts in the past five years, beating most areas of cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, with Ongar coming in 19th place.

Even victims of car crime have been surprised by the figures.

Lisa Fry, 18, from Devon Close in Buckhurst Hill had her car broken into three weeks ago.

She said: “I felt violated because all of my things were spread out across the pavement. All they took was some sun tan lotion, the front panel of my stereo and all my favourite CD’s. They scratched Kaos Krew on the side so I think it was probably a group of young boys who don’t have anything to do. I’ve bought a new car now and it’s got an alarm so I’m not too worried now, but I’m surprised that Buckhurst Hill is one of the worst areas.

On Westbury Lane in Buckhurst Hill ten cars were vandalised in one night earlier this year.

Resident Irene Smith said: “It surprises me that it’s one of the worst places for car crime because it’s a quiet area. We thought the vandalism was a one off spate. It’s a massive inconvenience to have your car broken into and my daughter spent ages sorting it all out after her car had the window smashed. A lot of people have nice cars around here so perhaps that’s why.”

The figures show that in the past five years 2.82 per cent of residents living in Buckhurst Hill had made claims, while the figure for Ongar was 2.25 per cent.

A spokeswoman for Essex police advised caution over the figures adding: “The only figures people should pay attention to are the official Home Office figures, or they can go to the Essex Police website and look up figures for their area.”

Figures from the Essex Police website show that In Buckhurst Hill between April and October 2008, 17 vehicles were stolen and 45 vehicles were broken into, while in Ongar during the same period, 21 vehicles were stolen and 55 were broken into.

Head of insurance at moneysupermarket Andy Leadbetter said: “I’d expect to see bustling urban hot spots to be topping the list but it seems English villages are not the idyllic locales we may think – at least not when it comes to car theft.”