Westminster worst for bicycle theft - closely followed by Hackney

45,000 bicycles stolen in London during the last two years
Rex

Police were today urged to step up their fight against rising cycle thefts as new figures revealed that more than 45,000 bikes have been stolen in London during the past two years.

The Met statistics show that 23,141 bicycle thefts were recorded in the twelve months up to the end of March, 5 per cent up on the total for the equivalent period a year earlier.

The worst affected borough was Westminster, where 3,609 bicycles were taken during the two years, as thieves continued to target the large numbers of commuters and shoppers who ride into the West End and surrounding areas.

Other badly hit districts include Hackney, where 1,650 bicycles were stolen last year on top of 1,517 thefts over the previous 12 months, and Islington, which also suffered more than 3,000 cycle thefts over the two years.

At the same time, other new figures show that only 580 people were charged with cycle theft last year - equivalent to one thief for every 40 bicycles stolen. The number of prosecutions the previous year was even lower.

Jenny Jones, a London Assembly member and cyclist who has had three of her own bikes stolen, said that the Met needed to step up its efforts to reduce thefts because of their impact upon the “quality of life” in the capital.

“These figures show that there far too many bikes being stolen. It is a crime that can cause a lot of inconvenience and upset and stopping it needs to be seen by the Met as a core policing task,” she said.

Ms Jones said that Transport for London, which is committed to increasing cycling, could assist by funding and working with the Met on targeted campaigns to tackle the problem.

Mike Cavenett, from the London Cycling Campaign, said that although the Met was trying to reduce cycle crime, it needed to do more because of the high level of thefts and the increasing numbers of cyclists in the capital.

He added: “Many cycle thefts don’t get reported to the police so the real total could be 70,000 to 100,000 and not what the official figures show. The Met has got better because five or ten years ago there was no chance of getting your bike back and the problem wasn’t taken seriously. Now there are cases where people see their bikes on eBay, report it, and there’s an arrest a few hours later.

“But that doesn’t happen all the time so more does need to be done. There are more people cycling and there should be more resources going into tackling thefts to reflect that.”

Today’s Met figures show that the highest number of thefts occurred in May last year when 2,530 bikes were taken. October, when there were 2,355 thefts, was the next worst month in the 2011/12 year. The lowest number of thefts was in February this year, which saw 1,117, with other winter months also seeing a drop in crime as fewer cyclists rode around London. Crime surged again in March, however, with 1,844 cycle thefts.

The Met's Chief Superintendent Sultan Taylor, Safer Transport Command said: "The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Cycle Task Force, funded by Transport for London (TfL) is tackling cycle theft to improve cycle security across the capital. Since this dedicated team of officers was introduced in July 2010, they have made over 250 arrests for crimes related to cycle theft and have security marked and registered over 24,000 bicycles.

“The good work of the Cycle Task Force has lead to an increase in the number of stolen bikes being reported, and as the number of cyclists continues to grow in the capital they will continue with their efforts to minimise bike theft in London.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT