Where cover is hard to get

Wythenshawe, a huge sprawling council estate nestling between Manchester's airport and the M56, loses out in the car insurance stakes.

An AA survey this week named it as the most expensive place in Britain for car insurance - a dubious honour it shares with nearby Prestwich and Middleton.

For the residents of Firbank Road, Newall Green, in the shadow of the motorway, it is vandals who have become the main source of consternation.

Just a fortnight ago, 12 car and van owners there woke up on Saturday morning to find their tyres had been slashed by vandals. And this despite Greater Manchester Police figures which show car crime in the area is falling.

Paul Aherne, 24, a joiner, says the annual insurance for his R-registration Astra is £1,800. "At first the insurance premiums only cost £700 a year," he says. "But now they have gone right up - partly because I ran into someone else who had no insurance.

"The problem around here is kids. Every Friday and Saturday night they sit there drinking bottles of cider. I have had my wing mirrors damaged, tyres slashed and the aerial broken off."

He is surprised, though, that Wythenshawe is among the most expensive place for car insurance. "I would have thought it would have been Salford or Orsdall or somewhere like that," he adds.

"It is not that bad around here in the day time - it is just at night. I think it is just a case of the kids being bored and they think smashing a few cars up is a bit of fun."

A lot of people have bright yellow locks attached to their gearsticks or steering wheels. The cars parked in the street are mostly family saloon cars or hatchbacks.

Jacqueline Rossi, 48, a housewife who lives nearby, was a victim of the slashed tyres. "There must have been about 12 vehicles which were done that night," she says. "I have a Vauxhall Corsa, but there was a lad with a Mercedes van who couldn't go to work the next day as his tyres were slashed. They cost more than £100 each to replace.

"It is awful. We are trying to get the council to remove the patch of grass in front of our houses so we can park outside. I didn't claim on my insurance when my car tyres were slashed because it would have pushed up the premiums even further."

Mrs Rossi already pays nearly £400 a year for her car - double what it used to cost her in north Wales. She has never claimed in 12 years and she has a lock and car alarm.

"I have lived here most of my life," she adds. "But this area has really started to go downhill. There are a group of 12 or 15 lads who hang outside the shops at night causing trouble."

Wyn Casey, secretary of Newall Green Tenants' Association, says they discussed the problem at a meeting with police this week .

"People dare not make any claims on their insurance because it will make things worse," she says. "It is a stupid situation. It is not just bored teenagers - these kids are as young as 10 or 12 and drink is often associated with what they are doing."

Paul Goggins, Labour MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East, is astounded by the figures. "I am quite staggered by the AA's findings," he says. "My concern is that the implication is theft of and from vehicles is worse than anywhere else in the country.

"In the last year, theft of vehicles fell by 23% and theft from vehicles in this area fell by 16%. In addition, there are 41 other police command units in Greater Manchester with a higher rate of theft from vehicles.

"I am fed up with people like the AA casually doing these surveys, often for commercial reasons, without regard for people's feelings who live in these communities."

He says the AA's survey has a doubly detrimental effect on the area: higher premiums and a negative image for the community.

Meanwhile, the island that pays the least

Residents of the Isle of Man - where I was born - enjoy lower car insurance premiums than anywhere in Britain, writes Marianne Curphey.

The figures released by the AA this week partly reflect the very low level of car crime.

If you wanted to steal a car in the Isle of Man, you'd have to get it to the mainland. Since the island is in the middle of the Irish Sea, 71 miles from Liverpool and 83 miles from Dublin, and there is only one car ferry port, this presents a problem to the would-be thief.

You'd have to switch numberplates quickly too, because Manx-registered vehicles have a very distinct and instantly-recognisable plate.

We do things differently on the island: you can drive at 16, and there is no MOT for cars, which means that there are some interesting ancient vehicles on the roads. There is also no speed limit on sections of the mountain road, which runs along the spine of the Isle of Man.

Parts of this road are used for the TT races in June each year, and a local debate is raging over whether speed limits should be imposed during busy holiday times.

The population is only around 90,000, almost a fifth of whom are over 65. Crime is low, partly due to the unemployment rate of 0.6 % (at August 2000).

Trying to do anything without being noticed is difficult, because there is only one large town - the capital, Douglas. Elsewhere, as in all small communities, Manx people take an interest in their neighbours' activities. Much of the land is used for farming and if you tried to drive off with a vehicle in a rural area, someone would be sure to recognise it and alert the owner.

You could take a car joy riding off-road in the mountains. But pretty soon the local farmer would notice someone messing around on his land and have a quiet word.

In fact, the real problem on the Isle of Man is the growing number of cars clogging up the small country lanes and the locals' habit of ignoring road-markings on tight corners. There is the occasional spate of vandalism and snapped-off wing mirrors, but definitely no car-jacking.

The blackspots

1. Wythenshawe (Manch)£567

2. Prestwich (Manch)£567

3. Middleton (Manch)£567

4. Chelsea (London)£564

5. Finchley (London)£563

· Source: AA. Annual premium based on male 37, partner female 35, Ford Focus, fully comp