The owners of North West Mountain Bike Centre in Stockport have published a CCTV image of a man who rode off on a £4,000 mountain bike on Wednesday November 25. The man posed as a customer, putting a £50 deposit on a child’s bike, before asking to test the mountain bike outside.
The Manchester Evening News reports that the man pretended to test the suspension on an Intense Tracer Carbon 275 2015 in Black/Charcoal before riding off. Staff gave chase on bikes, but he managed to get away.
Interview: Inside the mind of a bike thief
Store owner Andy Kyffin said:
“We are very security conscious so this is a bit of a shock. Someone has been smart with us. Now we are going to have legitimate customers asking to try a bike out and they are not going to be able to. This is a wake up call for us.
“He had done his research as he was talking about suspension and put down a deposit on another bike. He didn’t look untoward, there was no reason to think he wasn’t a genuine customer. But he just pedalled off the site and disappeared. We went out chasing after him on bikes as we know the area well, but we couldn’t find him.”
The thief was captured by the shop’s CCTV and the store has published an image on its Facebook page. He is said to be about 5ft9in.
Kyffin said there was a market for stolen bikes and that the store would be watching sites such as eBay and Gumtree.
“It is a bit embarrassing, but there is a cycling community and we have put it on Facebook and it has been shared across the UK. If anyone knows anything then we would ask them to call the police.”
Anyone with information can contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
12 thoughts on “Thief posing as bike shop customer rides off on £4k mountain bike”
do what Evans do and require
do what Evans do and require driving licence/ passport and credit card to be left while test ride takes place.
No good just keeping a credit
No good just keeping a credit card and driving licence passport – really need to put a sizeable deposit down on the credit card to check its not fake / stolen.
Well it’s good to see clear,
Well it’s good to see clear, usable CCTV pictures for once. Normally they look like the images are taken with a toaster.
I reckon they’ll identify this guy quite quickly.
Shop I used to work in
Shop I used to work in required a passport and a credit card to be left. Still had a bike stolen (£2500 Giant mtb) from under my nose, as they were both fake. If these bottom feeders put as much effort into contributing to society as they do to being crims, they’d be useful. Until then they’re a waste of oxygen.
Funny time was when a guy attempted to steal a fixie. He did’t realise it was a fixie, pegged it to top speed and went to freewheel as he turned a corner. Pinged him right out into the road – I just picked up the bike and laughed at the pr!ck.
The shop I used to work in
The shop I used to work in got progressivly more serious. Started off with just leaving a card, then we had to get a signature and check it matched.
Then, when chip & pin came in, we used to run the card through and charge them 1p. Proved that they knew the code, the card worked etc. We also used to take a photo of them on a small digital camera and at the end of the test ride(s), we’d delete the photo in front of them.
We had one guy who tried to nick a bike without realising that, just round the corner and out of his sight, an armed police officer was in just browsing (one of the Diplomat Protection Squad, we used to get them in regularly as normal customers).
Shouts and yells from staff as this guy snatched a bike and tried to run out, next thing there a police officer in front of him, hand on his gun (he didn’t actually draw it but the threat was there). Quickest arrest ever. 🙂
Short test rides. Pointless.
[Short] test rides. Pointless.
Never trust a man with a
Never trust a man with a beard
OldRidgeback wrote:
Not even this guy?
tourdelound wrote:
i ‘ve had a couple of bikes off him in the past. Never asked him where he got them.
OldRidgeback wrote:
It’s the parting on the right that flagged him up for me.
I’m sure he’ll be ‘nabbed’ pretty swiftly.
Unless he shaves and fixes his hair.
SYRUP!!! That’s got to be a
SYRUP!!! That’s got to be a wig?!
Isn’t thatJames Arthur from X
Isn’t that James Arthur from X-Factor….errrr…fame?