British Transport Police are appealing for help in tracking down suspected bike thieves caught on camera at two railway stations in Birmingham.
The thefts have all taken place since the start of the year at New Street or Moor Street stations.
PC Nick Tatlow said: "The officers investigating these cases have followed a number of lines of enquiry and circulated these images on police intelligence systems to try and get names for these people, but to no avail so far.
“Now we are calling on members of the public to help identify them. If you know who these people are, or if you have any information about the thefts, we want to hear from you.”
He added: “Officers regularly undertake covert and high-profile operations to catch cycle thieves in the act, working closely with other police forces to share information and identify offenders. “
Here are the images, together with details of the specific thefts supplied by police.
1. On Saturday January 10 the owner of a red and silver Orbit bike worth £200 left her bike locked at the racks underneath the bridge at New Street between 3.30pm and 5.45pm.
2. On January 16, a £200 white Carrera Crossfire hybrid bike was stolen from the racks on the Moor Street side of the station near the subway (no picture supplied).
3. On January 24 a 20-year-old cyclist secured her black Giant bike, valued at £310, in the bike racks outside the main entrance of New Street at 12.30pm. By 6pm the following day, January 25, it was stolen.
4. On February 7, at midday, a 32-year-old man from Birmingham left his bike in the Moor Street racks. When he returned at 7.30pm on Sunday, the Cube Peloton black road bike, which cost £910, was gone.
5. On Friday February 20 a black mountain bike worth £100 was stolen from the New Street racks inside the station between 3pm and 11pm.
6. On Sunday February 22 a man secured his silver Giant hybrid bike at New Street station between 7pm and 9pm. The bike is valued at just over £500.
7. On Thursday April 9, between 7.30am and 4pm, a dark grey Pinnacle Lithium hybrid bike, valued at £350, was stolen from the cycle racks at New Street.
8. On Monday, April 20, the owner of a red Trax T700 bike had their cycle stolen at some point between 8am and 7pm at New Street.
9. On Thursday April 16, between 7am and 7pm, a white Specialized Allez bicycle, valued at £700, was stolen from the cycle racks near Moor Street.
7 thoughts on “British Transport Police release images of Birmingham bike theft suspects”
Why would you leave your bike
Why would you leave your bike locked up outside a train station for over a day?
brooksby wrote:Why would you
You know, that could almost sound a little like victim blaming…
Maybe peoples’ social or work arrangements mean that they need to leave a bike overnight occasionally… Although I think that many people leave bikes outsite train stations almost permanently – Waterloo seems to have a large resident bike population that is used by people commuting in by train to do the final leg, for example.
Having said that, I would be interested in knowing what sort of locks were used on the bikes, so as to get a better picture of how vulnerable I am if I use a decent locking solution (i.e. are most of these thefts of not very well locked up bikes)
Have to agree with other comments that these CCTV images are pants. Stations providing bike racks could quite easily have a few decent quality cameras pointing at them.
brooksby wrote:Why would you
For the same reason you would leave a car/house/shed locked up – you don’t expect a thief to smash in and steal stuff. The answer to your question doesn’t fix any problems.
The questions you should be asking are:
Why are these people resorting to crime?
What will the police do about it?
Together with the British Transport Police and the transport companies what can we do to mitigate this risk?
brooksby wrote:Why would you
My commute is too long to do by bike alone so its bike/rail/bike. I have a 3 mile bike commute to the station, and another 3 mile commute from the station to work. It’s impossible to get even a foldup on the congested trains, so I have a bike at each end. This means leaving a bike overnight at one end, and a bike over day at the other. I have no other option.
They need better spec CCTV!
They need better spec CCTV!
Nice to see them investing in
Nice to see them investing in high-resolution cameras……. Oh wait.
Was I victim blaming? Sorry
Was I victim blaming? Sorry – it wasn’t my intention.
I cycle from home to work (shed at one end, secure cycle parking (alarm, double door, sheffield stands in the basement) at the other).
I ride around town, and I lock up to go to the shops (mini u-lock and a cable lock). But I wouldn’t dream of leaving my bike outside a train station (probably *at all*, let alone overnight).
I appreciate that some do people ride to a station to then commute by train, but the cycle parking around most train stations is so dire (uncovered, busy, full of dead bikes, full of live bikes that suspicious persons can presume will be left for a long time) that I would never do it. I don’t even like parking a car in train station car parks, to be honest.
@hylozoist
But they won’t because then they’d have to accept some sort of responsibility, rather than a simple ‘bikes are left at the owner’s risk’ sign.
@danthomascyclist
I do ask these questions, knowing the same answer as above will apply.
Most publicly accessible car parks have signs saying ‘not my problem, don’t bother me if someone steals/vandalises/burglarises your car’, so (unfortunately) why do we expect them to behave any differently toward bikes?
I had a point, but seem to have mislaid it somewhere… #o