Two a day: Stolen car hotspots of the Wide Bay and Burnett

New police data has revealed 777 cars were stolen over the past year across the Wide Bay and Burnett police district. See how your area rates.

New police data has revealed that two cars are stolen across the Wide Bay and Burnett every day.

Stolen cars have become a major problem in the Wide Bay and Burnett as families and residents grapple with the region which is fast becoming a hotspot for theft.

The region has had 777 offences of unlawful use of a motor over the last 12 months, with numbers nudging slightly higher than the previous year which saw 768, according to the Qld Police Online Crime Map.*

Unlawful use of a motor vehicle offences in the Wide Bay and Burnett by location over the past 12 months. Data: QPS

The Wide Bay and Burnett, especially the Fraser Coast, is still feeling the impact of car stealing crime after a 14-year-old was sentenced last December for killing three people in a crash with a Mercedes taken from a driveway in Maryborough.

The sister of Sheree Robertson, one of the three who were tragically killed, said she had “no faith” in the justice system after the teenager was sentenced.

Premier David Crisafulli and those working on Adult Time, Adult Time legislation revealed unlawful use of a motor vehicle now carries a 10 year maximum sentence, compared to five years under the previous laws.

With just over two cars being stolen every day, hotspots have become noticeable, with large patches emerging on the region’s biggest towns of Gympie, Maryborough, Hervey Bay, and Bundaberg.

The stolen Mercedes used by a 13-year-old boy in a triple fatal incident in Maryborough

Car theft hotspots over the past 12 months

Bundaberg - 237

Hervey Bay - 150

Gympie - 145

South Burnett - 134

Maryborough - 94

Bundaberg suffered the most car thefts, falling behind only the Fraser Coast’s combined total of 244, although Bundaberg’s population is around 16,000 people less.

Gympie’s CBD and inner suburbia reported the most stolen car action, with 36 arrests in the CBD.

In Hervey Bay, the Esplanade was the place to be caught driving a stolen car, with 15 separate offences along the popular hooning spot.

The South Burnett has also been impacted by stolen cars, with small towns in the region reporting large amounts of thefts.

Murgon, a town of just over 2000, had 59 separate offences recorded, while Kingaroy and surrounds recorded 29.

The scenes in the streets

These cars are not just stolen, but can sometimes be completely destroyed by the offenders once they are deemed useless.

In Hervey Bay earlier this year, a car confirmed by police to be stolen was set on fire, with the offenders dumping it on the busy Boundary Rd in Kawungan, leaving it to burn during an afternoon school pick-up rush.

Only months before, a man in Gundiah was ran over by a man and a woman who framed themselves as potential buyers for his Holden Commodore.

Mark Crossley, 63, drove the car around his block with a couple who visited him to buy it, but was left standing in front of it when they commandeered the vehicle and began hurtling towards him.

He said the woman “drove over him”, dragging him for about 50m before he fell off the side of the Commodore.

63-year-old Mark Crossley (inset) was ran over at Gundiah by people he thought were there to buy his Holden Commodore.

Police officers have not been spared either, after one was hospitalised in November 2024, after being run over by a 19-year-old in a stolen car.

Aaliyah May Spencer was granted bail on March 14 in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court following an incident where she is alleged to have ran over a plainclothes officer after she thought she was being carjacked.

The charred remains of a stolen car on Hervey Bay’s Boundary Rd. Monday, February 17, 2025.

How to best protect you and your family

Make sure vehicles and doors are locked and never leave a spare key inside the vehicle.

Also consider installing a remote engine immobiliser, allowing owners to disable their vehicles at the click of a button.

*Statistics taken from the QPS Online Crime Map, correct on May 19, 2025 and includes statistics from the South Burnett LGA. Figures are taken from where individuals were arrested, not where cars were stolen from.

Originally published as Two a day: Stolen car hotspots of the Wide Bay and Burnett