Surrey Police have likened criminals to rats and vermin in their latest campaign to target the yearly rise in vehicle crime throughout April and May.

The crux of the campaign is that “rats” are vermin and Surrey Police are on a mission to exterminate them from the county’s streets.

The force’s new advertising campaign will see artwork of rats breaking in to cars plastered on buses and billboards.

April and May often sees a rise in criminals swiping belongings from unlocked cars, and catalytic converter thefts were increasing due to rising scrap metal prices.

Temporary Superintendent Darren McInnes said: “Having your car stolen or broken into is an upsetting experience and can cause a great deal of inconvenience and expense.”

He advised drivers to close windows, lock doors and remove personal possessions.

He said: “Particular care should be taken with sat-navs, laptops, iPods and mobile phones, where quite often the value to the victim is often enhanced by the inconvenience of losing the equipment and the information held on it.”

Throughout the campaign, there will be additional patrols in hotel and beauty spot car parks and the force’s automatic number plate recognition team will identify any vehicles reported as stolen or with links to offenders.