London’s cycling commissioner has welcomed a fall in the number of bikes stolen over the past 12 months.
Since October 2012 the number of bikes stolen in the capital has fallen by 11 per cent, with 2,000 fewer offences recorded.
From October 2012 to the end of August 2013 was 19,052, compared with 21,488 in 2012 and 20,411 in 2011 over the same time period.
The fall is being credited to Project Cycle Ops, a joint initiative between Transport for London and the capital’s three police services – the Met, City of London Police and British Transport Police.
The project has included bike marking and registration events, educating cyclists, high-visibility policing patrols to discourage thieves, surveillance, and special undercover policing tactics.
In addition, five thieves have been given ASBOs preventing them from having a bike they can not prove they legitimately own.
Cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan said: “Many people who have their bikes stolen simply give up cycling, so cracking down on this crime is essential for the Mayor’s ambition to double the number of cyclists.”
Mr Gilligan promised to “pile further pressure on the thieves and shrink the market in stolen bikes” in the coming months.
The Met’s Superintendent Rob Revill added: “It is great to see that by working together our efforts have resulted in over 2000 less people having their bike stolen in the capital.
“However, it is sad to see thousands of bikes lying in our police stations unclaimed as we cannot identify owners. So, we are urging Londoners to help us by taking a few minutes to lock bikes securely, security mark and register bike details online and report any theft to police so together we can Lock Thieves Out!”
