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Rutland's rural crime team is warning buyers to be extra careful when buying second-hand horse boxes, with statistics that 1 in 10 listed on selling sites has been flagged as stolen or tampered with.
Police say buyers should beware of missing serial plates, dodgy documents and uncooperative sellers. They say rural crime is on the rise nationally, and losses totalled £52.8m last year. You're being urged to check the serial number and documentation of anything you buy, to walk away if something doesn't feel right about the sale, and to register your horse box with a manufacturer and well-known national databases.