The latest Sevenoaks crime news: a live Kent Police CCTV appeal over a car taken from a driveway, what the police.uk data shows about local trends, and how to report or stay informed.

Kent Police have released a CCTV image as part of a live appeal after a car was stolen from a driveway in Sevenoaks, the latest piece of local crime news for residents to be aware of. Officers want to identify a man who may be able to help their enquiries, and they are asking anyone living nearby to check private CCTV and dashcam footage from the day.

This is a current, factual round up of what is happening with crime in the Sevenoaks area: the open appeal officers want help with, what the official figures say about local trends, and the exact ways you can report something or keep yourself informed. Everything below comes from Kent Police, the police.uk open-data service, or other named sources, and is linked at the foot of the page.

The live appeal: a car taken from a driveway

According to Kent Police, officers were called to a report of a grey Volkswagen Golf being stolen from a driveway along the A25 between 12pm and 1.30pm on Wednesday 13 May 2026. The force says the car was later reportedly seen at a petrol station on London Road in Wrotham Heath.

Following initial enquiries, two people were arrested. Officers are now trying to identify another man who may be able to assist them, which is why the CCTV image has been put out. If you recognise the person pictured in the Kent Police appeal, or have any other information, the force asks you to call the west Kent appeals line on 01622 604100, quoting reference 46/76575/26.

Kent Police are also asking local residents with private CCTV, and any drivers with dashcam footage who were in the area at the time, to check whether they captured anything that could help.

We are not naming or describing any individual here. No one should be assumed to be guilty of anything, and an appeal to identify someone is exactly that: a request for help, not an accusation.

What it means for you

Driveway vehicle theft is the kind of crime that prompts a lot of “what can I actually do” questions, so it is worth being plain about the practical side.

If you saw anything on the A25 corridor or around Wrotham Heath on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 May, your footage or recollection could matter, and the reference number above is the quickest way to make sure it reaches the right team. More broadly, the simplest steps that reduce driveway theft risk are the unglamorous ones: keep keys away from the front door and out of range of relay attacks (a signal-blocking pouch is cheap), use a physical deterrent such as a wheel lock or a driveway post, and make sure any home cameras are actually recording and retaining footage rather than just showing a live feed. Kent Police regularly point residents to these measures through their local Community Safety Units.

What the figures actually show

It helps to set a single appeal against the wider picture, because one incident is not a trend. The official record sits on police.uk, where Kent Police publish a month-by-month log of where crime happened across the district. As the police.uk data notes explain, releases come out roughly once a month with a delay of about two months, so the freshest figures always lag the present by several weeks.

Independent summaries of that open data describe Sevenoaks as a relatively low-crime district overall. CrimeRate, which aggregates the police.uk figures, lists violence and sexual offences as the most commonly recorded category in the Sevenoaks district, and characterises the area as having a lower crime rate than the wider South East and the national average. Where the numbers have crept up, the same kind of analysis points to vehicle crime and online fraud as the categories driving the small year-on-year increase, which chimes with the driveway theft appeal above.

The honest takeaway is a calm one. Sevenoaks remains a comparatively safe place by the official measures, vehicle crime is the category most worth guarding against day to day, and the best version of these numbers for you is the one for your own street, which you can pull up yourself in a couple of minutes.

How to report and stay informed

The reporting routes below are the official ones. They are worth keeping somewhere you can find them.

  • In an emergency, or if a crime is happening now or someone is in danger, call 999. (Kent Police)
  • For non-emergencies, call 101, or use the Kent Police online reporting and live chat tools, which the force says run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Kent Police)
  • To report anonymously, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or through its secure online form. It will ask about the crime, not about you.
  • To check crime near you, search your postcode on police.uk, which shows recent recorded crimes by category on a local map.
  • To follow your local team, Kent Police run dedicated area pages for Sevenoaks neighbourhoods, including Sevenoaks Town and St John’s, with contact details and updates from the Community Safety Unit.

We will keep this Sevenoaks crime news page updated as Kent Police issue further appeals or confirm new information.

Sources

Image: “Kent Police Peugeot 308 (GN73 BVO) - The Paddock, Chatham Waterfront, Medway” by Sunolafjagtenben-hur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kent_Police_Peugeot_308_(GN73_BVO)_-_The_Paddock,_Chatham_Waterfront,_Medway.jpg).