THE Volkswagen Golf was the most stolen car in the district last year, it has been revealed.

West Yorkshire Police figures show that the model was targeted 157 times across the Bradford district by thieves.

Second on the list of vehicles stolen most frequently was the Ford Transit van, with 116 reported thefts.

The Audi A3 and its variants (S3, RS3) was the third most popular target, stolen 79 times.

In total, more than 2,000 vehicles were taken in the district.

During the year, there were a number of eye-catching incidents involving the theft of VW Golfs.

In September, police were led on a 100mph chase by a Golf, which had been stolen in Shipley, and officers had to use a stinger device to stop the car.

When officers apprehended the occupants, it was discovered the driver was just 13 years old.

He was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in youth detention for car theft, dangerous driving and other offences.

Keighley MP John Grogan described the incident at the time as “shocking”, and Shipley MP Philip Davies said it was “one of the worst cases” of dangerous driving he had heard of.

In a separate incident, four bungling burglars were given a rude awakening by police after falling asleep in a stolen Golf.

They had taken the car in a burglary at Baildon, and were spotted having a snooze in Cullingworth when police boxed the car in and arrested them on suspicion of burglary.

West Yorkshire Police say crimes such as car theft are a priority in the district.

A spokesman added: "Acquisitive crimes such as burglaries and robberies are also priority areas for Bradford istrict and additional resources are deployed to areas where increases in these offences occur.

"In 2018 the force recovered more than 1,900 stolen vehicles and arrested more than 1,100 people through the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras. This is just one of several tools we use to target vehicle thieves."

Volkswagen was contacted for comment on the figures.

Police have also released their Keighley Operation Steerside results for last month, revealing that 82 tickets were issued and ten vehicles seized.

There were 61 seatbelt offences, 14 speeding offences, four incidents of mobile phone use at the wheel, two MOT-related offences and one instance of drink driving.

Two arrests were made.