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Mugging fear for IPOD generation

Peter Sharples
31/10/2005

ONE quarter of the population fear they are walking targets for theft because of the expensive belongings they carry in public.

Young people feel most at risk because of the amount of gadgets such as i-Pods, MP3s and mobile phones they carry around.

In some parts of the country the number of muggings rose by 40 per cent last year and by an average of five per cent across England and Wales. Martin Nugent of specialist insurer Cover4Students said: "A top of the range i-Pod containing 15,000 songs, loaded at a cost of 79p a track make it worth over £10,000 to the owner, not just a gadget costing about £200.

"People carrying i-pods and laptops are high visibility targets for muggers. It's vital that students examine their insurance policy to check their cover."

Student Freya Blears has taken out special insurance to make sure she doesn't lose out if her prized music collection is swiped.

The 22-year-old Salford University art student from Hale paid £7 to upgrade her insurance with Cover4Students to cover her i-Pod off campus.

"I'd be devastated if I lost all my music," said Freya. "I've ripped plenty of my existing CDs to my i-Pod but I have also paid for plenty of downloads from the Internet."

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