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news
Regent's Park cyclists (Rory McCarron)"They told me to 'get off the f***ing bike' and pulled out a hammer": Cyclists demand urgent police action after latest violent bikejackings at Regent's Park
Amid yet more reports of violent bikejackings by balaclava-clad moped gangs targeting cyclists in Regent's Park, the Metropolitan Police has faced calls for urgent action to tackle the crimes — the force facing questions after scared riders were told the police are "unable" to patrol before 8am.
The Times reported three cyclists were targeted on one day in January — robbers using sharp objects to puncture tyres, threatening victims with hammers and forcing riders off their bikes in a string of terrifying bikejackings — the latest incidents adding to the numerous other similar robberies that have been reported in Regent's Park and its surrounding area in recent years.
> New figures reveal two bikejackings a day now taking place in London
London cyclists who use the park's quiet roads for early morning training have reported feeling like "sitting ducks", the police's lack of action frustrating many. One club who uses the park contacted the Regent's Park safer neighbourhood policing team to ask whether a car could patrol the area between 5.30am and 7am.
Adding to riders' disappointment in the police response, they received the reply: "We understand your concern and frustration. Unfortunately, we are unable to change our working hours."
The Met Police has this morning assured road.cc it is able to "direct uniform and plain clothes patrols to target criminals at peak offending times" and a spokesperson insisted that the comment from the safer neighbourhood policing team did not paint the full picture.
A spokesperson added: "We know bike thefts are a significant concern, and we are mindful of the impact they have. Officers from the Regent's Park Ward Safer Neighbourhood Team have been working with Westminster Council to tackle this issue, including patrolling hotspot locations in and around the park.
"They also engage with groups that use the park, and PCSOs from the team join rides run by local female cycling clubs. Making it harder to sell on stolen bikes through the second-hand market is also crucial, and we would encourage riders to register their bike with us for free so we can track them if they are stolen.”
One of the latest riders to be targeted was Bethan Lloyd-Glass who was attacked at around 5.45am on January 14, her Trek Émonda stolen by moped muggers who shouted 'give me your f***ing bike' and pushed her to the ground.
"I was on my way to the park when two men drove past me," she recalled. "I thought it was quite unusual to see pillion riders at that time of the morning. We stopped at a red light and the passenger got off the bike, said to me, ‘Give me your f***ing bike’, then pushed me to the floor. Then he swung the bike on his shoulder, got back on the motorbike and drove off."
In a similar incident Patrick Conneely reported being threatened with a hammer after he turned around to try and escape.
"I was meeting some friends in the park and was a bit early so did a lap by myself," he explained. "A moped pulled up with two men on and one started looking at the brand. I knew I was in trouble so turned around and so did they.
"They told me to 'get off the f***ing bike' and pulled out a hammer. Someone called the police and they were there in about five minutes. They said it was the third or fourth call that morning. Cyclists are really scared."
The chairman of Regent's Park Cyclists, Sean Epstein, said he initially had "sympathy" for the police investigating the bikejackings that have since become an increasingly common occurrence.
"The first few times it happened because the robbers wore balaclavas, they had no number plates, there were no leads," he said. "But it keeps happening and there's no plan to do anything about it."
The high-value nature of bikes has made them a concerningly common target for criminals in recent years. We've reported on numerous incidents involving professional riders, club riders and businesses being targeted in increasingly organised break-ins, as well as these frightening bikejacking incidents where riders have been robbed of their bikes during training rides.
In 2022, pro cyclist Jennifer George said she no longer rides alone after two bikejacking attempts as she rode out to Surrey from her home in south-east London. Likewise, former Alpecin-Fenix pro Alexandar Richardson was threatened with a machete and dragged for 100 metres by moped-riding muggers in London's Richmond Park, a teenager later sentenced to 12 months for the attack.
Other incidents involving club riders have been reported across London, notably near Regent's Park, and across the United Kingdom, high-value bikes seemingly now an attractive target for criminals, something Cycling UK has speculated may be because of the perceived low probability of being caught by the police.
> Police force admits bike thefts "unlikely to ever be solved"
However, the violent nature of the incidents targeting riders near Regent's Park has been particularly shocking, with victims threatened with knives and other weapons.
And as if to prove the point that these crimes are nothing new and have not been dealt with by the Metropolitan Police, it's a year this week since Regent's Park Cyclists, supported by British Cycling, Rapha, and Brompton, called on the Met to station more officers at the London crime hotspot in a bid to stem the seemingly constant flow of bikejackings.
Last year The Times compared the robberies to similar crimes committed by "Rolex ripper" gangs targeting high-value watches in London, and reported that bikejacking victims had been told by the police that they believed the robberies are being carried out by an Albanian gang that is shipping the bikes to Russia, where high-end bikes are difficult to obtain due to sanctions.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- AidanR 2 sec ago
Perhaps I'm being overly cynical, but I wonder if the age of the victim was a factor in the sentencing - seen as 'a kid on a bike' rather than 'a...
- OnYerBike 17 min 15 sec ago
Not suggesting that the hub design might not be flawed in general, but it seems pretty fanciful to imagine it would have affected the outcome of...
- Rendel Harris 19 min 16 sec ago
If you know Regent's Park at all throughout daylight hours it's well policed, there's considerable motor traffic, lots and lots of cyclists doing...
- ubercurmudgeon 23 min 58 sec ago
What must it be like, to be so absolutely sure that you are "the voice of the silent majority", and therefore cannot be wrong about anything, that...
- Joe Totale 31 min 22 sec ago
Good on the reviewer for confronting the manufacturer about this fairly pointless item.
- Paul J 44 min 3 sec ago
There are at least 2 athletes who have been on NCAA podiums - indeed both have been quite dominant. To have 2 out of the mere 10 trans people...
- dubwise 51 min 56 sec ago
"... I don’t see anything battered and fried, although I’d completely expect him to take a couple deep-fried Mars bars in his back pocket on rides....
- Bmblbzzz 1 hour 5 min ago
One of many ways in which, on a society level, we prioritise systems and objects over people.
- Hirsute 1 hour 26 min ago
I think the default is to take primary to be more visible, be out of the door zone and give someone room to escape into....
- andystow 2 hours 13 min ago
It looks like it only adds two miles to walk from the Castleton car park.
Add new comment
29 comments
Perhaps a good way of getting the police to attend a theft like this is to report : "My bike has just been stolen by two people on a moped. I think one of them may have been hurt."
Wait for the blues and twos and burning rubber.
LOL at London. Live in a shithole, deal with the shit.
Since the police aren't likely to do anything, maybe we (London clubs) should hire a few of our own wronguns on mopeds to patrol places like Regent's or the main routes out to the lanes on weekday mornings?
Pretty sure we could afford it if the cost was split enough ways.
Great plan!
Wait ... didn't old Kipling have something to say about that idea (see "Dane-Geld")?
I'm already paying one group protection money (government / police). Will paying another help? What happens if the police nick my bandits? Or some other bandits see a business opportunity and want a cut?
We have the option of not paying our thugs if they aren't doing what we want.
You say that, they may disagree. And they'd probably have the stronger 'argument'...
😝
Fair!
Good luck with that! Just try not paying for the police because they're not doing their job!
I suspect if you try stopping paying the local boys, they may come round to discuss matters ... more informally!
Critical Mass will be heading there (probably) this Friday as a show of solidarity.
Whose streets? Our streets!
Best time to commit crime is always between 7 and 8 am. Night shift police are headed back so they can clock off on time. Day shift are having subsided breakfast in the staff canteen or doing their 1 hrs paid exercise in the gym.
Met police: "we're completely focussed on reducing violent crime"
Met police: "unless it's before 08:00"
Robbers: "our new working hours are 04:00 to 07:45"
These contradictory answers from the police are very instructive. Firstly we have , "We understand your concern and frustration. Unfortunately, we are unable to change our working hours." Then the Mets PR spin. Which answer should you trust ? The first . The first answer gives you a clear view of what the police think. This is generally true in life . When someone says something and then backpedals you can usually trust that they meant every word of what they initially said . It's a view into the soul .
When
someonethe police says something and then backpedals you can usually trust that they meant every word of what they initially saidYes, that was the case when Northumbria said cyclists shouldn't go out at busy periods/ Bank Holidays, some South Wales Partnership (really, the police) said cyclists shouldn't go out in the dark, British Cycling said that cyclists shouldn't go out during the Queen's funeral and Blackpool Police said that 'if cyclists didn't like conditions on the roads, they should seek an alternative mode of transport'. They all retracted later, I think, but they did really mean it!
Met Police ... is able to direct uniform and plain clothes patrols to target criminals at peak offending times
But it actually doesn't. It's also operating a determined 'go-slow' on the wonderful new 'find out what actually happened to your 'traffic offence against cyclist' report after we said we were taking action' facility which was 'hopefully in December'.
The cure to these crimes isn't filling Regents Park with cops on overtime.
It's zero tolerance policiing of scumbags on scooters and illegal e-motorbikes with no helmets or plates. Theres a group in my neck of the woods.
The rozzers should do a bonus scheme for arrests and crush every bike caught.
Yes, if the bikes are being illegally shipped breaking sanctions against Russia then it's part of a much wider scheme and should be taken as such.
I saw two young men on electric motorbikes without helmets, faces covered, come out from a park here in Colchester. Whatever they were doing it wasn't legal.
Seconded. If someone is riding an electric motorbike or a petrol moped thing at speed and wearing a balaclava or similar which obscures their face then the police should stop them and "Have a Little Chat"™.
I'd go further and just make it legal for the police to knock them off by whatever means they have available - with zero right of recourse for any injuries received by the scroates.
Wearing a balaclava and riding a suyron and got knocked off by the police? Tough.
Just as long as not too many people end up as collateral damage. I don't go full "terrorist balaclava" but when it's cold I sometimes pull my neck gaiter up over by chin. And while I don't own any kind of electric bike my town hack has a wide-ish down tube, belt drive and front dynamo hub and several people have misidentified it as powered. (I could only hope for my normal speeds to fool people I've got extra power, but Edinburgh has hills so at least going downhill I can be nearer car speed).
There's an exemption in the Dangerous Driving Legislation that allows the police to use tactical contact (ramming), so long as they've been trained to do so.
Now THERE is someone who has not been on the recieving end of illegal police heavy-handedness. Be very, very, very careful what you wish for.
But yes, I'm totally supportive of the idea of stopping people on illegal motorbikes, and confiscation where possible.
Oh! No! Can't do that! It would be targeting, or profiling, or some sort of dicrimination and the police could be sued!
Apologies for what may well be seen as victim blaming but as I've said before about these robberies, riding at 5:45 am in January in an area already notorious for bike jacking is simply foolish. Yes there should be more police presence, yes there should be stiffer penalties for thieves, yes we should be able to ride where we like when we like, but given the well-publicised realities of the situation riding around the park on your own two hours before sunrise is just foolhardy.
Its not so much victim blaming as it is allowing the scumbags of society to win. The same could very much be said about riding on our roads. Logically we shouldn't ride on busy roads because there are enough assholes in cars to make it dangerous. If we all took the sensible approach though we would quickly lose many of the freedoms we enjoy.
Of course I understand and to a large extent agree with that argument but sometimes it has to be tempered with sensible precautions for one's personal safety. For example, as you say, one could say the same thing about riding on the roads because of the number of dangerous drivers about and I certainly won't allow them to run me off the road (figuratively). However, I recognise that there are certain situations that it's best I don't enter, for example I don't cycle on the A3, which is a three-lane-each-way motorway in all but name, even though I'm perfectly legally entitled to do so. In an ideal society of course every citizen should be able to go wherever they want whenever they want but until that nirvana is achieved everyone has to strike a balance between asserting their rights and protecting themselves. I certainly wouldn't go riding around the Outer Circle on my own before sunrise; that may be "allowing the scumbags to win" but if I ended up lying on the tarmac with a broken collarbone or worse watching my pride and joy disappearing into the distance on the back of moped ridden by said scumbags I don't feel being able to say to myself "at least I didn't let them win" would be much consolation.
And what happens when Regents Park becomes a nogo area, like your A3 example, at more socially acceptable times ?
The only reason the thieves are operating as they are now is because it's easier pickings, bike thieves happily operate in London in broad daylight with lots of people around and will just wave their portable angle grinder, or zombie knife in people's faces to get their way.
So avoiding an area because of the time doesnt solve anything, and I wouldn't presume any of these cyclists are riding their park routes so early as they're insomniacs.
If you know Regent's Park at all throughout daylight hours it's well policed, there's considerable motor traffic, lots and lots of cyclists doing laps and lots of pedestrians. As far as I know there hasn't been an incident of this kind there in daylight hours, it's not going to become a no go area if people decide not to ride there in the early hours of the morning.
Not so much letting them win, as limiting the losses.
Definitely wouldn't be my choice, I'd rather be in a nice warm bed at that time, but they must feel the risk of traffic and pedestrian's in London outweighs the risk of the crime!