A bike shop owner in Cumbria says the ram-raiding of her shop has come as “a real shock to our area,” adding that “everything counts at this time of year”.
Cyclewise’s shop in Cockermouth was broken into in the early hours of Monday morning by thieves driving a suspected stolen van. The thieves proceeded to take two high-end gravel e-bikes before a resident drove past and caused them to abruptly leave. Police are still investigating the incident.
“They ram-raided through our metal gates and pushed our glass front out of the frame,” Cyclewise co-owner Amy Scott told road.cc.
“It may be only two bikes [stolen] but we’ve also got 13 bikes damaged, shards of glass in clothing we’re trying to sell, it’s about £30,000 of damage before you get to the trading impact.”
Despite the scale of damage, Scott was complimentary of the local business community that rallied around to get the shop reopened.
“There’s been brilliant comradery from local businesses. Contractors downed tools on other jobs to come and help us secure the place. It’s wooden hoarding there for now but it’ll take weeks for there to be a new proper front.”
The burglary has also forced Scott and the team to remove bikes from their shop for the time being whilst staying open for repairs in their workshop . “It’s not ideal, I feel we’ll be affected in the run up to Christmas where we would get a fair bit of walk-in trade.
“But since we reopened, we’re trying to spread the good word that we’re back open, telling people they can call ahead and we can bring bikes down for them to look at it. We just have to close early to then move the bikes back somewhere safe.
“Everything counts, we’re in a challenging time, not just for us but for every business, and a lot of [cost] increases have crept in, from government taxes on the payroll to little extra fees in the supply chain. We’re trying to raise funds to stay afloat but when you’ve had a productive summer and have to spend stuff on extra security measures it’s… a challenge to say the least”.
Scott said she was looking at installing car-proof bollards in front of the shop but that “no-one seems to know where to go, ram-raiding in Cumbria is very minimal.”
“You always aim to improve [shop security], but we’re looking at ways of slowing people down, you can never stop people from trying [to break in] in a dark hoody or jacket.
Despite the recent events, Scott and the team are already planning the next steps including replacing the temporary shop front with a more eye-catching display.
“The support has been incredible, one customer wrote to us that ‘you can’t put down a good team’ and that’s been really nice.”
