POLICE are warning drivers of cars with built-in sat-nav systems to be extra vigilant following a number of smash-and-grab thefts across Bradford.

Owners of Audi and Volkswagen cars in particular are being targeted by organised thieves who have been stealing factory-fitted systems.

In the latest theft, Volkswagen Tiguan owner Andrew Marshall returned from watching Bradford City at Valley Parade on Saturday to find thieves had struck.

They ignored an iPod, a pile of CDs and an expensive dashcam after smashing a passenger window and forcing out the sat-nav from its housing.

Mr Marshall had parked on Kings Road, believing his car would be safe on such a busy road, and was shocked to discover the damage caused by the break-in.

Mr Marshall, 49, who was with his wife Louise, and two daughters, Gemma, 30, who has cerebral palsy, and Daisy, 11, was even more annoyed as he then faced an 85-mile trip back home to their home near Durham.

He is now warning City fans to be aware that criminals are now targeting built-in sat-navs.

The lifelong City fan and season ticket holder said: "I parked up in Kings Road in broad daylight. There must have been cars going past all the time. When we came back there was smashed glass and plastic everywhere."

His bad day got even worse after the family waited from around 5.45pm to about 9.30pm for Autoglass to come out to fix their Motability vehicle.

"Autoglass said no-one had passed the message on from the 6pm handover and there was no record of us contacting them."

Eventually, Mr Marshall decided to drive home in a draughty and freezing cold car. They got back at about 2am.

He fears that such a bad matchday experience would be enough to deter some from going to Valley Parade.

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"If, as a family, we decided not to come back the club would lose thousands of pounds. I want to let other supporters know what happened. I never once thought that leaving my car at the side of the road on a match day would be a problem."

He expects to have to pay £100 insurance excess and for his insurance to rise when he renews.

And he is carefully considering future parking options the next time he attends at home game.

A spokesman for Autoglass said: "We are sorry to hear about Mr Marshall’s poor experience.

"We strive to offer all our customers a timely and convenient appointment but unfortunately on this occasion due to a booking error we were unable to get a technician out on Saturday evening.

"We have since been in touch to apologise and arrange an alternative appointment at a time convenient to the customer."

Inspector Tom Horner, of Bradford police, said Audi and VW vehicles were being targeted by criminals across Bradford for their 'integrated' sat-nav systems.

He said theft from vehicles on matchdays had dropped, although it was still a problem.

Police had been working with Bradford City and bringing in extra resources to tackle the issues.

Officers had been gathering intelligence to work out where the stolen sat-navs were being sold.

Insp Horner said it was difficult to prevent the theft of fitted sat-navs but vigilance from everyone would help the police catch those responsible.

"It is difficult as we have professional thieves coming, determined to get into cars. All I can ask is for people to keep their eyes open and park cars where there are other members of the public."

He said the thieves were "brazen" and professional in their methods.

"It's a difficult one to tackle. We need people to be really vigilant. Overall, these crimes (thefts from cars) have gone down overall compared to last year but we can't get complacent."

A spokesman for Audi UK, part of the Volkswagen group, said its technical division was aware of a very small number of instances of theft of built-in infotainment units from its vehicles but no significant increases in activity in this area had been brought to its attention so far.

"The security performance of Audi vehicles is of paramount importance to the brand, and any reported potential breach will always be investigated as a matter of the utmost urgency," he said.

"Each successive Audi model generation benefits from the very latest and most sophisticated contemporary security features available to our engineers during development. The latest examples of our navigation and entertainment units are electronically coded to the specific vehicle to which they are fitted at the factory.

"Audi standards of anti-theft protection are among the very highest in the UK, and the brand has been consistently held up by the Thatcham laboratories (UK) as a key industry leader for theft-of and theft-from protection for close to ten years."