Nigel Farage may have a lot on his plate this week, after some of his Reform councillors were filmed by an ITV undercover reporter using violent racist and sexist language, prompting criticism of his party’s vetting procedures. But it seems he’s still found time to pontificate about bike theft in London.
Footage was recently shared on social media of two apparent thieves stealing a bike in Shoreditch on Sunday, the cap-wearing criminals using an angle grinder to break through the bike’s lock before rather clumsily riding away on it, as passers-by looked on.
Such brazen bike theft attempts are a worryingly regular sight on the UK’s streets. Last month, members of the public were praised for their role in halting a bike thief on a busy street in the City of London, after two passers-by tackled the criminal, enabling police officers to catch and arrest him.
The thief, Christopher Forrester, was jailed in August after pleading guilty to the theft of a bicycle and for breaching his Criminal Behaviour Order, after he attempted to evade two officers who tried to stop him cutting through the bike’s lock with an angle grinder.
In May, a man was filmed hacking at a bike lock with some heavy-duty bolt cutters in broad daylight on the Strand, leaving social media users baffled by the inaction of the many onlookers witnessing the apparent theft.
In contrast, last year we reported that a security guard was hailed an “absolute hero” after he got in the way of a would-be bike thief who then attacked him with an angle grinder outside a café on Holywell Lane in Shoreditch.
However, last weekend’s latest viral bike theft, also in Shoreditch, has provided Reform UK leader Farage – a politician not generally known for his support for people on bikes – with the opportunity to score some political points by lamenting the plight of “third world” bike theft in the UK.
“This shows just how far we’ve sunk into decline,” Farage wrote in a caption accompanying the clip on social media. “Shoreditch bike thieves using an angle grinder to steal a bike in BROAD DAYLIGHT.”
The Reform UK leader then called for tougher action on bike thieves, promising to implement a policy cycling campaigners have been consistently calling for in the capital.
“Only one per cent of bike theft cases ever lead to positive action in London. Thieves are free to run wild,” Farage continued.
“It’s just another example of third world decline which Reform will crack down on. We’ll ensure every case of bike theft is prosecuted and that career criminals like this go to prison.”
Earlier this year, the London Cycling Campaign branded the inaction alluded to by Farage as “shocking” as it launched a campaign to demand joined-up action on bike theft.
As part of the campaign, the LCC published a report, titled ‘Broken Locks, Broken Promises’, which highlighted “the shocking scale of cycle theft” in London and the “outcomes of inaction”. It called upon the Metropolitan Police, government, Transport for London, and the London Mayor to work together to reduce bike theft.
While the report and survey featured data on theft and attitudes towards the crime, the cycling campaign group fears the real extent of cycle theft remains unknown as the majority of riders know “the response from the Met is so poor it’s not even worth reporting”.
The LCC’s research suggested that an estimated 40,000 bikes are stolen in London each year, with only around two per cent of stolen bikes recovered. As part of the survey, 74 per cent said they or a member of their household had been the victim of cycle theft, with 79 per cent of that figure reporting the police took no action or no action beyond contacting them.
Calling the crime an “epidemic”, the LCC argued that reduced reporting of theft allows the Met to “trumpet falling cycle thefts”. However, the charity said that any reduction in reported thefts is rather the result of victims giving up on the police as a means of getting a stolen bike recovered or offenders caught.
In April, former BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones told us that the Metropolitan Police had closed their investigation into his stolen bike just 20 minutes after he reported it, because they “couldn’t pinpoint” exactly when it was stolen – even though the bike was parked directly beneath CCTV cameras.
Meanwhile in Oxford, MP Layla Moran was informed by the police that the place where her e-bike was stolen in July was a “CCTV blackspot”, despite the Liberal Democrat politician filming a number of security cameras in the area.
And while the leader of a major political party calling for a crackdown on bike theft would normally be welcomed by campaigners, cyclists may well be left scratching their heads at Farage’s public intervention, considering his past record when it comes to cycling.
Earlier this year, the Reform UK leader branded the Labour government’s plans to lower the drink drive limit in England and Wales “absolutely ridiculous and wholly unnecessary”, arguing the proposals were the work of the “Islington, north London bicycling classes” who “hate” rural Britain.
“It’s a tragedy what’s happening to pubs, it’s been going on for a very long time,” Farage said during a Reform UK press conference following the publication of the Department for Transport’s Road Safety Strategy, which aims to save thousands of lives on the UK’s roads by tackling drink driving, improving training for young motorists, introducing mandatory eye tests for drivers over 70, and targeting mobile phone use at the wheel.
“I listened to a Labour minister on the TV this morning about the new drink drive laws, basically saying if you want to have a drink, don’t drive.
“This is because we’ve got laws being designed by the Islington, north London bicycling classes. What about rural Britain? No-one cares, of course. In fact, many in Labour seem to hate rural Britain.
“But the drink drive thing is absolutely ridiculous, wholly unnecessary. We’ve been where we’ve been since 1967, it’s worked pretty effectively. If you actually look at road casualty figures, through whatever cause, we are now incredibly safe on our roads. Incredibly safe. Much safer than France, way safer than Germany.
“We’ve actually reached a level on accidents, beneath which it is impossible to go, because there will always be human error of some kind.”
> What to expect for cycling if Reform UK get into power
Of course, that wasn’t the first time that Farage or Reform had publicly taken aim at cycling and cyclists. Back in 2020, when the former Brexit Party had just rebranded as Reform, Farage announced that the party would target councils that promote cycling and walking in the following year’s local elections.
And last year, the Clacton MP derided local authorities he claimed were “on the verge of bankruptcy” for wasting “tens of millions” of pounds on “cycle lanes that no one uses”.
So, perhaps cyclists will take Farage’s newfound concerns about bike theft with a pinch of salt.
4 thoughts on “Nigel Farage claims every bike theft will be prosecuted under Reform UK – months after ridiculing “north London cycling classes””
I guess a Reform govt could achieve their twin objectives by banning bicycles entirely, and then also not need to stump up the cash for additional prison places.
Is this another ploy to distract the media from crypto funding sleaze and racist attitudes of many Reform UK candidates? Presumably he will claim that all bike theft is committed by small boats asylum seekers.
The “Commuters and Nigel Farage” image is giving me the ick.
I suppose one should expect race-baiting from the batrachoidal oaf but I did leave a comment on his Facebook post of this asking why it was indicative of “Third World decline” when the two miscreants are quite obviously white (and to save Nigel’s time, our Nigel that is, yes we all know there are a few majority white countries that can be economically and/or socially classed as Third World; equally we all know what Farage is implying with that language). Surprised he didn’t say “what do you expect with the population of London made up the way it is?”