Famously, Barcelona is a dangerous place for mobiles - but London may be up there, according to new research. It's even more likely you'd get your phone pinched in London than in New York. Why?

The figures, sponsored by Carphone Warehouse and produced by the London School of Economics researchers, suggest that 15% of British adults "have had their phones stolen." The equivalent for US adults is 7% only. And 10,000 mobile phones are stolen each month in the UK.

According to the Mobile Life Report, it's quite probably because Londoners have nicer phones. But it's also because London is rougher than New York:

The Mobile Life report found that mobile phone theft is a particular problem in London. 25% of those living in London have had a mobile phone stolen, compared to the lower national average of 15%. In fact, people are nearly twice as likely to be a victim of some kind of robbery in London, than in New York City. In 2007, there were three robberies per 1,000 people in the London Metropolitan area, compared to 1.61 robberies per 1,000 people in New York.

But is it true about the nicer phones? Quite possibly: "The report found that, in London, 36% of adults preferred a mobile phone with the latest specifications such as MP3, camera and video player, in comparison to 17% of adults in New York.".

The tendency to carry these higher value phones, observes the Mobile Life report, "could perhaps go some way towards explaining the higher mobile theft rates in London."

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