TWOC

TWOC (pronounced "twock") is an acronym standing for Taking Without Owner's Consent. Synonyms used by police in the UK include UTMV: Unauthorised Taking of a Motor Vehicle, and TADA or TDA: Taking and Driving Away. TWOC derives from the wording of section 12 of the Theft Act 1968 and it has become the term used by the police in England and Wales to describe any unauthorised use of a car or other conveyance that does not constitute theft. TADA or TDA is specifically a criminal offence under section 178 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 that applies only to Scotland. Since the taking need not involve an intention to permanently deprive the owner of the car, it is easier to prove than theft (this having an element of with the intention to permanently deprive the owner of their goods). The term came to prominence with a sharp rise in car crime in the early 1990s.

In police slang usage, twoc became a verb, with twocking and twockers (also spelled twoccing and twoccers) used respectively to describe car theft and those who perpetrate it: these usages subsequently filtered into general British slang.

Any unauthorised taking of a car is likely to cause distress and can cause significant inconvenience to the owner and his or her family, so this is an offence covering an everyday crime, yet one that often involves genuine emotions of personal invasion. Nevertheless, it is a summary offence defined under section 12(1) of the Theft Act 1968:

a person shall be guilty of an offence if, without having the consent of the owner or other lawful authority, he takes any conveyance for his own or another's use, or knowing that any conveyance has been taken without such authority, drives it or allows himself to be carried in or on it.

Adopting the standard section 1 definition of theft would require a dishonest appropriation of the conveyance with intent to permanently deprive the owner. There will therefore be little difficulty in prosecuting as theft situations where the stolen car is later sold (sometimes through a process of 'ringing' i.e. its identity is changed and forged documents of title produced) or broken for spare parts, because the evidence of an intent permanently to deprive is clear. But the twoccing situation usually describes joyriding where all that is intended is an unauthorised use for a short period of time. Alternatively, it covers situations where a vehicle is taken for the purposes of another offence, e.g. it is to be used to escape after a bank robbery and then abandoned. This offence is an alternative verdict under section 12(4) which provides:

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