I agree, problem was the bloke was fixing his car in a tough neighborhood.
Most of this sort of crime happens in the same neighborhoods, and its usually the same kids, and there kids, in fact usually the same family.
In my old area there were one or two families that were the most aggressive, petty criminals the works, and today their grandkids and in some cases great grandkids are just as bad.
The problem is that this sort of crime only gets reported when the victim is seen as one of the betters, but it is mostly ignored like your street gang violence in your cities when its just gang on gang, or in our case poor working class beating up on poor working class.
So most people while they may tut tut over there newspapers don't care because it wont reach them, although it does reach there children when they are mugged for there mobiles, ipods psps and trainers.
Well, that is true. Hopefully, the article is an exaggeration or written with the intent to keep things from getting worse. I like the English.