A protest organiser warned of the strain that tool theft is putting on tradespeople as vans carried out a slow drive demonstration outside Parliament to call for harsher penalties.

Drivers of vans covered with slogans including “every tool stolen is a job lost” and “hands off our van” tooted horns as they drove through Parliament Square.

Protesters dressed as a spanner and a tube of caulk waved at passing motorists.

Protest organiser Shoaib Awan, a gas engineer who set up Trades United after £8,500 worth of tools were stolen from him, told the PA news agency he struggles to sleep at night for fear of his van being broken into.

He bought a new van after the incident and then the side doors were broken in a second break-in.

He said: “We want stricter laws against breaking into a tradesperson’s van.

“These are our offices. We work from them. It’s no longer acceptable. They need to understand the implications – mentally and financially – it has on us.

“The vans get broken into – we’re out of work because we’ve lost our tools. We’ve lost our vans.”

He said he does not blame the police but is calling for MPs to impose tougher penalties and recognise the difficulties tradespeople are facing.

“I can’t focus on my job. We can’t focus on our work,” he said.

“Half the time our minds are on our vans because we know someone’s breaking into them during the day, stealing the tools, and they’re taking them up to the car boot sales, and that is where they’re selling them.”

He said he feels so anxious about the risk of theft that he needs to be able to see his van while he is working and finds it hard to sleep at night.

“Nowadays it’s gone so bad, that if I can’t see my van, I would not do a job. I’ll refuse that job. That’s a loss of earning for me,” he said.

“On top of that, I’m parking on a double yellow line getting a ticket because if I can’t see my van, I’m telling the customers they’ve got to pay for my ticket because my van has to be in my sight… It’s anxiety. You can’t sleep at night thinking someone’s having a go at your van.”

He said the group were not emulating disruptive protests such as those carried out by Just Stop Oil and planned to be finished by the time people finish work.

“We’re not here to make any disturbance for any working class people. We are here because we are workers ourselves,” he said.

He urged the Government to “step up” and impose a “severe punishment” for breaking into tradespeople’s vans and stealing tools.

A series of reforms to sentencing guidelines have been proposed in the Theft of Tools of Trade (Sentencing) Bill tabled by Labour’s Amanda Martin in December.

The Portsmouth North MP’s proposed reforms to the guidelines include adding theft of tools to the list of examples considered as causing “significant additional harm” to a victim, and better recognising the financial loss incurred when tools are stolen.

More than 44,000 tool thefts were reported to police in 2023, up 5% from the previous year, according to insurer Direct Line.

Laura Moran, of vehicle security company TVL Group, which she says acts as a community for tradespeople to unite on this issue, said tool theft was an “epidemic” that is getting worse.

“We see these guys every day coming to us. Their vans have been broken into. You know, they’re heartbroken. They can’t work. They’ve got to replace the tools. The van is damaged. You know, they’re mainly self-employed guys so it’s really tough,” she told PA.

She said police take it seriously but their resources are limited and because many tools are not marked, they are easy to sell on, for example at car boot sales.

“What they’re highlighting today is their call to action to try and give more funding to police, harsher sentencing and trying to outlaw tools being sold at car boot sales, because that’s really where there’s a big issue,” she said.

“If you go into a car boot sale, if somebody’s selling 50 power tools, it’s not likely they’re from their garage.”