MOTORISTS are being urged to take care of their property as police launch a new crackdown on car thieves.

The warning, from police in the Ryedale district, follows a spate of thefts from cars in the area over the past week.

Since Sunday, there have been seven thefts from cars in Ryedale's towns and villages.

Sergeant Cliff Edens, of Malton police, said: "We are particularly keen to warn visitors to the area that they must take care to lock their car doors and never to leave anything on show.

"If a thief sees a bag on the back seat he will often break into the car only to find it contains nothing valuable. The thief won't know that until he has broken into the car to find out."

The most recent thefts include power tools taken from a Nissan car which was broken into while it was parked at the back of Eastgate, in Pickering, between 12.30am and 6.30am on Sunday.

Overnight on Saturday, thieves broke into a vehicle parked in the Forest and Vale pub car park, in Pickering, taking a CD player worth £150 and clothing worth £560.