Nottingham 'UK burglary capital'

Claims for burglary are falling, the Association of British Insurers says

Nottingham has the worst burglary rates in the UK, according to research by a national insurer.

The survey suggests residents there were more than twice as likely to make a claim for household theft than the company's national average.

The second highest rates were found in Hull with the third in Leeds, according to statistics compiled by Endsleigh.

Nottinghamshire Police say the figures fail to compare "like for like", do not add up and are four years out of date.

The survey suggests that people in Nottingham were 109% more likely to make a claim for household theft.

There are pockets of the UK that are more vulnerable than others Association of British Insurers

Figures for Leeds and Hull were respectively 88% and 65%.

Residents in Guildford were found to be the least at risk.

An Endsleigh spokeswoman told BBC News its research was based on the frequency of claims from "tens of thousands" of company policy holders nationally and "several thousand in each town" between 2002 and 2005.

Student policy holders had not been included in the figures, a spokesman added.

But a Nottinghamshire Police spokesman told BBC News only one out of every 20 home insurance policy holders in Nottingham were with Endsleigh.

And the "vast majority" of those were among the "10,000 students" on the city's two university campuses.

MOST LIKELY TO BE BURGLED 1 Nottingham 2 Hull 3 Leeds 4 Bristol 5 Oxford 6 Manchester 7 Derby 8 Reading 9 London 10 Sheffield Source: Endsleigh

"University students leave home at 18 and are really naive."

"They leave their doors and windows open and they get burgled."

The spokesman also told BBC News the "political boundary" of Nottingham used for the research contained "urban areas only", while that used to define Leeds included rural districts.

But even within those areas, Nottingham had seen a "great reduction" in burglaries.

And the force's "good work" with both the city's universities to educate the students to lock up was "paying dividends".

An Association of British Insurers spokeswoman told BBC News the total number of burglary-related claims had fallen from 630 million in 2003 and 512 million in 2004 to 475 million in 2005.

LEAST LIKELY TO BE BURGLED 1 Guildford 2 Coventry 3 Edinburgh 4 Dundee 5 Swindon 6 Brighton 7 Bath 8 Swansea 9 Glasgow 10 Aberdeen Source: Endsleigh

"But there are pockets of the UK that are more vulnerable than others and that will always be the case."

Policy holders should ask their insurers for specific advice about their particular homes and neighbourhoods, the spokeswoman added.

And they should not be "complacent about the obvious" - ensuring all windows and doors remained locked throughout the summer.