THE TOP 10 pickpocketing hotspots in the UK have been revealed this week.

According to Freedom of Information requests to all 45 police forces across Britain, London had the highest number of pickpocketing incidents in the last five years while Lincolnshire had the second most.

The average for the whole country is 45 people out of every 10,000 citizens being victims of pickpockets.

In London, with a population of around 8.7m, a total of 223 out of every 10,000 people have fallen victim to pickpockets — nearly five times the national average.

Just over 195,000 people were pickpocketed in the capital since 2013.

In Lincolnshire, 140 out of every 10,000 locals have been targeted by pickpockets according to the study by gadget insurance firm Protect Your Bubble.com.

That's three times more than the national average, with 10,440 people victim of pickpockets in the past five years.

The safest place was the Dyfed-Powys policing area of Wales, where just seven out of every 10,000 locals being victims of pickpockets in the past five years.

James Brown, of Protect Your Bubble.com, said: "While it is not exactly a surprise to see the sprawling metropolises of London and Manchester topping this list, it is interesting to see Lincolnshire being ranked so high.

"For the force to have recorded so many of these thefts, but have such a comparatively low population, suggests there are pickpockets aplenty operating in this area.

"Residents in this force area should take extra care when walking around with valuable, uninsured belongings, especially phones, tablets, laptops and jewellery."