The London Cycling Campaign has launched a campaign to demand joined-up action on bike theft, the cycling group calling the current inaction “shocking”.
As part of the campaign, the LCC has published a report, titled ‘Broken Locks, Broken Promises’, which highlights “the shocking scale of cycle theft” in London and the “outcomes of inaction”. It calls upon the Metropolitan Police, government, Transport for London and the London Mayor to work together to reduce bike theft.
While the report and survey feature 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 suggests 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 believes 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.
“London’s bike thieves know they face virtually no likely repercussions – yet behind every one of the tens of thousands of cycles stolen in London each year there’s a story of someone losing a precious bike, losing their chance to get around London healthily, and for many that means an end to them cycling. The Met are letting Londoners who cycle down badly – we’ve got a plan for how they can do better,” Tom Fyans, Chief Executive of the London Cycling Campaign said.
The campaign also involves a petition, calling on the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to commit firstly to implementing the recommendations from the cycle theft report, and secondly to commit to cutting cycle theft by 10 per cent every year.
The top three main recommendations include asking the mayor, Sadiq Khan, to commit to a 10 per cent cut in cycle theft each year, reinstating a cycle theft task force. Elsewhere, Met Police are asked to “track cycle theft properly” and enforce effectively “both on-street and online”, while the LCC demanded the government follow France and make bike “marking and registration mandatory”.
Secondary recommendations included asking councils, Transport for London and Network Rail to provide secure cycle parking at stations, and asking retailers and second-hand sellers to “implement a code of practice and teach people about bike security with public campaigns, information online and in shops”.
The LCC’s survey involved just under 2,000 London cyclists, three-quarters reporting that they or a member of their household had been the victim of bike theft, even with “most reporting using high-grade security locks”.
More than two thirds (69 per cent) of those who reported cycle thefts considered the police response inadequate, while nearly 90 per cent of respondents to the survey considered it to be very or extremely important that London authorities take action to address cycle theft.
A quarter said that after a theft they either stopped cycling altogether for a period or cycled less.
The campaign is being supported by Kryptonite, the lock brand’s senior marketing specialist Jon Maisey calling London cycle theft “prolific”.
“The good news is LCC’s Broken Locks, Broken Promises report represents a clear path forward to beat the thieves and includes clear recommendations for the bike industry and cyclists to get smart on bike security,” he said.
1 thought on “New report slams “shocking inaction” on bike theft, with just 2% of stolen cycles likely to be recovered”
I think I mentioned this before – we live in Paris and in London. In Paris and in London we have a garage in which we have several e-bikes. (In London we also have ‘normal’ bikes) We use the bikes every day; for school run, for commuting, for shopping. But what we don’t do, is use the bike in London for socialising. I would never leave a bike unattended in London – whilst I was in a pub or bar etc. I wouldn’t go to a concert or theatre by bike in London because I would not leave a bike unattended for a few hours. I only use the bike in London if I can see it or lock it in a secure facility. In Paris we leave the bike (a 5K TERN) locked up for hours in the street. I get very anxious but the other half is calmer. In the 6 years we have lived in Paris we have had nothing stolen, not a light, not a saddle, not a battery. And the thing you see in Paris, which you never see in London, is other e-bikes locked up in the street, sometimes with just one lock! When I lock the bike in Paris I still use multiple locks and remove the battery. I don’t know why this is this way – I’m sure the Police in Paris aren’t that bothered either about bike theft. Or maybe there is just no culture of bike theft in Paris. But there is a real marked difference bewteeen the two cities, when there shouldn’t be as they are comparable in so many ways. And then there is the infrastructure – central London is good, but ALL of Paris is very good.