Frosting is a United Kingdom term for a form of opportunistic motor vehicle theft carried out during cold winter months, when a driver starts a car's engine and leaves it running unattended to de-ice the windows and warm the interior before departing. A thief takes advantage of that unattended window to drive the running vehicle away. A British insurance company estimated that this method accounted for around 135,000 vehicle thefts across the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2005, making the common winter habit of warming up a car a significant driver of opportunistic theft.
Facts
Elements of OffenseAn opportunist thief steals an idling vehicle, left unattended in winter while the owner de-ices it and warms the interior 1 Jurisdiction VariationA term used in the United Kingdom; according to a British insurance company, frosting contributed to the theft of 135,000 unattended cars in the UK between 2000 and 2005 1 Classification
Offense GradeMinor or Summary Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Europe, found in there.
Sources
1. Frosting (crime), Wikipedia
Lead, first sentence
occurring in winter, which involves an opportunist thief stealing an
Lead, second sentence
the crime has contributed to the theft of 135,000 unattended cars between 2000 and 2005 in the
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