Close to 1.5 million women in the UK deliberately damage a vehicle in acts of vandalism, a recent report shows. Direct Line has published research results which support previous indications of a 50 per cent rise in females aged 11-17 who are involved in related offences, the Fair Investment Company reports.

"Our UK Vandalism Report suggests the number of female car vandals appears to be part of an overall escalation in the number of car vandalism incidents," said Jennifer Culley, spokesperson for Direct Line car insurance, in the Fair Investment Company report. "The number of motorists who have been victims of car vandalism has risen to nearly a third (30 per cent) of all car owners nationwide, up from one-in-ten (11 per cent) two years ago. The growing trend of ‘girl gang' culture does seem to be responsible for a significant percentage of car vandalism crimes.”

The Direct Line report suggested that increasing numbers of women are engaging in such acts as tyre slashing, breaking windows, scratching car bodies, and breaking off car parts.

The research results further indicate that the increase in vandalism from a female demographic is linked to boredom and alcohol. A reported 23 per cent of those studied indicated that they vandalised vehicles because they had nothing better to do, the Fair Investment Company explained.