This month catalytic converters – part of the exhaust system – have been stolen from five vehicles in the Gas Works and Brook Street car parks.

Both areas are covered by CCTV, but it has been claimed the tapes are only viewed by police for ‘serious incidents’.

Daventry district councillor Chris Over said: “People I speak to often say ‘I’ve had my car broken into, scratched or damaged, why can’t we have the tapes reveiwed?’.

“I have been told that due to limited resources the CCTV tapes only tend to get viewed for serious incidents.

“It’s a little disappointing, because there’s a series of events which we might call organised crime, but the recorded tapes are not something the police are prepared to view.”

One motorist who had their catalytic converter taken, but did not want to be named, said: “The cameras give the wrong impression to people that the car parks are secure. It seems they are pulling the wool over our eyes. The council is rightly trying to encourage people into Daventry, but what assurances can people have that when they park in this marvelous market town they won’t be a victim of crime?”

Police confirmed two converters were taken from the Gas Works car park on August 7, and three from the Brook Street car park on August 12. All took place between 8.45am and 5pm.

Catalytic converters are on many modern vehicles and contain platinum, palladium and rhodium. Police say the high price of metal is behind the thefts.

The town’s CCTV network is the responsibility of Daventry District Council.

Managing director Simon Bovey said the car parks that have been targeted have the Park Mark Award for safer parking facilities from the Association of Chief Police Officers, which means they have appropriate levels of surveillance.

Insp John McKinney said: “It is true that officers have to prioritise the work they do but, where we feel CCTV evidence will be of value, then officers will study CCTV.

“It isn’t true to say viewings are confined to just serious crimes, we also use CCTV where crime patterns emerge and if a problem location is identified then we can also apply mobile CCTV.”