It’s not just talk – a Hong Kong resident who’s spent years living in the UK recently posted about nine big headaches with life there, and public safety shot straight to the top of the list.
It struck a nerve with lots of folks. Take it from a friend in the legal game who’s spent time in Britain: crooks there are growing bolder by the year, and their antics are getting wild.
Two recent cases are enough to make anyone flinch.
First, thieves snatched pricey watches from the wealthy right outside an exclusive club in a buzzing neighbourhood – this isn’t an isolated event, mind you, it’s become routine and Rolex is the big target.
Crooks snatch high-end watches from America’s elite right outside London’s Mayfair Club – Rolexes are their favourite catch.
Second, some bandits wheeled in a crane truck and hoisted an ATM right off the street from inside a shop, loaded it onto a lorry, and poof – gone. What do both incidents have in common? No police in sight, criminals acting without fear, and now they’re even more daring after tasting easy success.
Thieves roll up with a crane truck, haul an ATM clear out of a supermarket, and vanish – can you believe it?
Hong Kong, on the other hand, stands firm with “police deterrence” – crooks here actually have to think twice before acting out, and it shows. On the “Global Safety Rankings,” the UK sits rungs below Hong Kong, proving exactly why we edge them out.
Rolex Ripped in Mayfair: High Society Targeted
Let’s dig into the luxury watch robbery first.
A US business exec headed to London for meetings at the famous Mayfair Club, where the members are the crème de la crème – kind of like the Hong Kong Club in Central. The exec hops off a cab nearby, walks toward the entrance, only to have two men tracking him. As he reaches the main door, they pounce and fight for his watch. After a few seconds of chaos, his Rolex is gone – thieves sprint to a waiting car and speed off.
The shocked exec put it all on Instagram later, admitting his watch is still missing. London police handling the case say this outside-Mayfair-club-watch-snatched routine keeps happening. His advice? Anyone visiting these glitzy spots especially with Christmas and New Year around the corner – watch your back, quite literally.
Media in Britain quickly dug up fresh stats from the Metropolitan Police: rich watches have eclipsed smartphones as the new criminal jackpot. From Jan 2022 to July 2025, a whopping 5,280 high-end watches have been swiped or stolen, each worth about £3,000 (HK$31,000). The robbers’ top pick? Rolex – 1,788 snatched, followed by Cartier (285), then Omega, Breitling, and Hublot. These guys know exactly what sells and, rumor has it, the loot goes overseas for fat profits.
ATM Gone by Crane: Nighttime Heist Stuns Residents
Now for the story that really makes your jaw drop. Last Sunday near 1 AM, folks upstairs hear weird noises and, peeking out, spot a crane truck with its boom lifting a seriously large chunk. Turns out it’s an ATM from inside a Sainsbury’s. The crooks smash doors, drag the ATM out, swing it onto a white lorry, and calmly drive off into the night.
The resident filming the whole thing calls the cops, but the masked thieves only need seven minutes to vanish, leaving the stolen crane truck behind. By the time police arrive, the lorry’s disappeared – still missing, as I write.
Brazen robberies in London aren’t news anymore. Last year, over 100,000 phones were stolen or snatched from locals and tourists, with barely any recovered. Under mounting public pressure, the police finally took action and smashed a phone-stealing gang that’s believed to have shipped 40,000 stolen phones out of the country last year alone.
Thieves get away with so much because police are simply ineffective. Most times, officers just record reports and let things slide. A British Retail Consortium survey found 61% of shop owners rate cops’ case handling as “poor” or “very poor.” If criminals know they’re unlikely to get caught, why wouldn’t they keep pushing the limit?
Hong Kong’s Policing: Quick Action, Real Results
There’s cause and effect here – Hong Kong’s police solve crimes fast and have arrest rates to match, which is why our global safety ranking towers over the UK. Consider this: the global database Numbeo published its mid-2025 “Safe Index by Country 2025 Mid-Year”, putting Hong Kong at 8th in the world, the Chinese Mainland at 12th, with the UK trailing at 86th and the US even worse at 91st.
TVB has just rolled out a show called “Discover Hong Kong’s Finest.” Frankly, Hong Kong beating the UK on public security by miles is a “Finest” we should all be talking about.
Lai Ting-yiu
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