Police have scotched fears that a hike in the number of reported stolen vehicles means car chop shops are now operating in Bermuda.

Motorcycle chop shops are nothing new, with bikes regularly stolen and stripped for spare parts.

And the idea of being able to get away with stealing a car on an Island as small as Bermuda has always been seen as virtually impossible ? an impression fuelled by the traditionally low number of vehicle thefts reported to Police.

But the possibility of a growing trade in car spare parts emerged when new statistics showed 13 cars had been reported stolen and were still outstanding.

On average Police normally deal with about four cases each year.

But a senior traffic officer has poured cold water on the chop shop theory ? and raised doubts about whether most of the missing cars had ever been ?stolen? in the first place.

Det. Sgt. Terry Maxwell, of the Bermuda Police Service vehicle crime unit, said the list of 13 had been quickly whittled down to six.

?There?s no such thing as a car chop shop,? he said, adding the higher total of thefts was caused after people who had loaned them to family members and friends did not get them back and then reported them stolen. He said these incidents were incorrectly logged as thefts, and that this matter had now been addressed internally.

?People who lend their vehicles to friends say, I want it back by midnight, then they find it?s not back at the right time and make a complaint of theft.

?A lot of officers take this report and then it ends up on my desk as theft when it?s not.?

He said once these rogue entries were removed from the system the total number of stolen cars reduced to six.

Det. Sgt. Maxwell said as many as five from that total appeared to have been taken to garages for repair and left with keys inside.

When cars were not picked up on time, he added, they were sometimes stolen.

Det. Sgt. Maxwell urged motorists taking cars to the garage to hand the keys to the garage owner.

He also denied the rise in car thefts was anything to do with drug addicts hiring out cars for cash and narcotics.

Police admitted they wanted to stamp this out in 2003, after the law changed making it no longer illegal for a car owner to allow someone else to drive their vehicle.

It is still illegal, however, if owners accept drugs to hire out cars.