DERBY is in the top ten cities of the UK where people are most likely to have their mobile phones stolen, research released today says.
The city comes eighth in the list, which is topped by London, followed by Leeds and then Manchester.
The new data, from the specialist gadget insurer Protect Your Bubble, is based on claims from the UK's 30 biggest towns and cities.
Collected between January to June, 8.8% of all claims they received are from mobile phone owners in Derby.
The figure is higher than neighbouring Nottingham at 7.6% and nearby Leicester with 6.7%.
London tops the chart at and 14% of claims from Leeds are for theft – higher than any other locations in a list of the UK's 30 biggest towns and cities.
In third place is Manchester, where 12% of all claims are for theft.
But thefts in London and Leeds are down by almost a third on last year, having decreased by 29% and 32% respectively.
Across all 30 of the UK's largest towns and cities, theft claims are down 28%, while damage claims are up by almost a third at 31%.
Comparing mobile thefts for the same period a year earlier, just six cities have seen incidents of theft rise. The biggest increases were seen in Plymouth and Preston, where thefts have more than doubled – up 167% and 113% respectively, and Nottingham, where thefts have risen by half over the past 12 months.
Stephen Ebbett, global director of Protect Your Bubble, said: "The sharp decline in mobile thefts will be welcome news to the victims of muggers and pickpockets.
"It could suggest mobile owners are being more cautious with their hardware, that policing is getting tougher, or that the proliferation of security apps that use GPS is helping the police to locate thieves and fight mobile and tablet crime."
