Fraud Investigations

Coventry Detectives have been operating in Coventry and the West Midlands for almost 20 years.

• Coventry is well-known for the legendary 11th century exploits of Lady Godiva who, according to legend, rode through the city naked on horseback in protest at high taxes being waged on the cityfolk.
• Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England.
• Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom.
• Coventry is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848.
• The population of Coventry has risen to 309,800 as of 2008.
• Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of London and 19 miles (30 km) east of Birmingham, and is farthest from the coast of any city in Britain.
• Although harbouring a population of almost a third of a million inhabitants, Coventry is not amongst the English Core Cities Group due to its proximity to Birmingham.
• Coventry was also the world's first 'twin' city when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II.
• Coventry is now twinned with Dresden and with 27 other cities around the world.
• Coventry's cathedral is one of the newer cathedrals in the world, having been built following the World War II bombing of the ancient cathedral by the Luftwaffe.
• Coventry's motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry.
• Coventry is an ancient city, which predates many of the large cities around it including Birmingham and Leicester.
• By the 14th century, Coventry had become an important centre of the cloth trade, and throughout the Middle Ages was one of the largest and most important cities in England.
• Coventry claimed the status of a city by ancient prescriptive usage, was granted a charter of incorporation in 1345, and in 1451 became a county in its own right.
• Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during World War II, most notoriously from a massive Nazi German Luftwaffe air raid on 14 November 1940.
• This led to severe damage to large areas of the city centre and Coventry's historic cathedral was ravaged by firebombs leaving only a shell and the spire.
• The areas which were expanded or created in this development included Radford, Coundon, Canley, Cheylesmore and Stoke Heath.
• Unlike other major UK cities, Coventry does not have an extensive 'greater' urban area.
• The M6 motorway directly to the north of Coventry acts as an artificial boundary which precludes expansion into the Bedworth-Nuneaton urban area.
• Coventry also has three further education colleges within city boundaries, City College, Henley College and Hereward College.
• Coventry has been the home to several pioneers in science and engineering.
• Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine, was from the city, as was the inventor James Starley.
• Coventry has long been a centre of motor and cycle manufacturing, dating from 1896.
• Coventry's main industries include: cars, electronic equipment, machine tools, agricultural machinery, man-made fibres, aerospace components and telecommunications equipment.
• In recent years, Coventry has moved away from manufacturing industries towards business services, finance, research, design and development, creative industries as well as logistics and leisure.
• Coventry motor companies once contributed significantly to the British motor industry but that role is now much diminished.
• Coventry's railway station is served by the West Coast Main Line, and has regular rail services between London and Birmingham.
• Coventry is also served by railway lines to Nuneaton via Bedworth.
• There is a line linking Coventry to Leamington Spa and onwards to the south coast.
• Coventry also has two Suburban Rail stations in Canley and in Tile Hill.
• Coventry became an independent county borough in 1889.
• Coventry later became a metropolitan district of the West Midlands county under the Local Government Act (1974), even though it was entirely separate to the Birmingham conurbation area.
• In 1986, the West Midlands County Council was abolished and Coventry became administered as an effective unitary authority in its own right.
• Coventry is still strongly associated with its traditional county, Warwickshire.
• Coventry has usually been controlled by the Labour Party over the past few decades.