The spare wheel of my Discovery 4 was stolen recently. I'm not sure exactly when because I had not regularly checked that it was still there. The cost of a replacement wheel and tyre together with a new wheel-lowering device is around £800 from my local Land Rover dealer, who told me that they have not heard of this happening before. The car has locking nuts on the four wheels, a locking device on the tow hitch but nothing securing the spare. It would appear to be relatively easy to cut the wire or remove the retainer holding the spare in place externally without entering the vehicle.

Is it worth writing to Land Rover regarding this? Is there a security device on the market to prevent theft of the spare? There may be many Discovery owners driving around not knowing that their spare has been stolen and they will only find out when they have a puncture.