Boycott dodgy car boot sales to crack down on stolen loot
12 May 2025, 15:07
Let’s be honest - we’ve all walked past the dodgy table at a boot sale.
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The one with knock-off perfume, meat sweating in the sun, or suspiciously cheap makeup. It’s a bargain, they say. Just don’t ask where it’s from.
Every time you buy that £3 razor or that fake branded lipstick, you’re fuelling a crime wave. That meat didn’t fall off the back of a lorry - it was stolen from a shop struggling to keep the lights on. The tools? Taken from the vans of working tradespeople, whose livelihoods depend on them.
It’s not just petty theft. This is organised, industrial-scale robbery. And it’s killing our small businesses.
Last week, LBC revealed that stolen tools were being sold at a car boot sale in east London. People are casually selling goods they’ve nicked from hard-working traders, and while the police are trying to crack down, it's a crisis out of control.
Retailers are losing millions. Independent shops are closing their doors. And what do we do? We keep turning up every Sunday morning with a bacon roll in one hand and a tenner in the other, ready to buy whatever’s on offer, no questions asked.
It’s not good enough.
These sales have become a safe haven for stolen goods, and law enforcement can’t keep up. It’s time we boycott these events.
If we can’t regulate car boot sales properly - if they’ve become a haven for theft, fraud and fake goods - why are we letting them carry on?
And until that question is answered, it’s time for a bit of self-respect. We, the public, need to wise up. Stop buying from strangers flogging dodgy goods in a field. If something looks suspicious, it probably is.
Better still, boycott these events altogether. If the organisers won’t clean them up, if the police can’t shut down the crime, then maybe we should stop turning up.
No one wants to admit it, but we’ve become part of the problem.
It’s time to walk away from the bargains, from the blind eyes, and from the crime we’ve all been funding.
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