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news
Bike thieves screw family's front door shut during theft (Facebook)"Even the police were shocked": Bike thieves screw family's front door shut before smashing into van to steal bicycle
A cyclist has warned of the lengths criminals are now going to steal bikes, thieves screwing the family's front door shut so they could not get out before smashing into the van parked on the driveway to take a mountain bike.
The victim raised the alarm on Facebook, warning that cyclists should "be aware that bike theft is at a whole new level" after they were forced to climb out of a window to get out of the house following the bike theft at around 11.30pm on Monday on a busy street in Bristol.
"This could have been very dangerous," they said afterwards. "Even the police were shocked.
"On Monday night, thieves screwed our door shut so we were trapped in our house, unable to get out [...] please be aware that bike theft is at a whole new level. Keep safe everyone."
The victim said her daughter's bikes were also left in the van but had apparently been of "no interest" to the thieves, who made off with her Merida mountain bike.
"I don't expect it to be found," they said. While the victim was locked in their home the thieves broke into the van that was parked on the driveway of the property on a "busy street in Bristol".
Worse still, the victim said they had been targeted in a previous break-in 22 months ago, with the whole house now alarmed at night. Unfortunately, this time the bikes were still in the victim's van as they had felt unwell and did not take them into the house.
Home office figures show that more than 365,000 reported bike thefts have gone unsolved since 2019, the Liberal Democrats in January warning that the crime has effectively been "decriminalised".
The value of bikes makes them an attractive target for criminals, bicycles locked to racks in public one of the most common targets. However, we have also reported on numerous apparently more targeted incidents at businesses or private residences, such as this week's one in Bristol.
Last week, a bike shop owener in Sussex slammed what he called the police's "abject apathy" after three shops and a house were broken into in one night during a bike theft spree.
At least 17 bikes and other items were stolen during the series of raids, six men in balaclavas spotted breaking into the Giant store in Shoreham, stealing 14 high-end e-mountain bikes.
The private home of Martin Gibbs, a service manager for supplier Upgrade Bikes, was also burgled, with the thieves making off with, among other things, two Kinesis bikes and a Canyon gravel bike.
Cycleshack in Lewes and South Downs Bikes were also targeted, the latter incident the second time in a year that the shop had been subject of a break-in, after three e-bikes were taken when a burglar broke the shop's office window with a brick.
South Downs Bikes director Martin Richardson called the bike shop break-ins an "epidemic", while in December a Middlesbrough cycle shop was targeted in a "lawless" raid attempt that left the premesis badly damaged after criminals rammed a car into the building twice.
Last summer, a Staffordshire-based elite mountain biker who had £45,000 worth of bicycles stolen in a burglary at his parents' house hired a private investigator to try and track them down.
The burglary was one of several in the county in the months leading up to August 2023, with businesses and schools targeted, as well as private residences as thieves made off with bikes worth a total of more than £70,000.
British pro cycling team Lifeplus Wahoo completed this month's Tour of Britain riding bikes lent to them by other teams after the squad was hit by a bike theft at the race, all 14 team bikes stolen from a mechanic's van ahead of the stage in Wrexham.
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.
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24 comments
Does anyone know what area of Bristol this was? I'm guessing it's one of the poorer areas where thieves know that they won't get challenged.
'the premesis badly damaged'.. I hate it when ones premesis gets damaged.
"Home office figures show that more than 365,000 reported bike thefts have gone unsolved since 2019"
As usual, UK policing and Home Office completely clueless on the scale of the problem that is destroying all efforts to encourage more people to address an obesogenic culture.
I did a review of bike theft in Cambridge a few years ago and extrapolated it to nationwide.
About 1 in 12 bike thefts are reported to the police, because the public know how ineffective the police have become on this. The only figures the Home Offices bases its data on is reported theft.
Data via BikeRegister supports this. Bikes under about £200 are rarely reported, but bikes worth over £3,000 are much more common, especially eBikes. Cycle storage security is non-existent in public spaces.
The average new value of stolen bikes is about £600, but it's the impact of people who may give up cycling that undermines all investment in cycling infrastructure that is the biggest social cost.
The real figure of cycle theft cost to both individuals and insurance industry is closer to £0.5bn a year
Yes, you read that right £0.5bn. If the bikes are fenced at a quarter of their value, this is more than £130m going into funding crime in the UK every year.
This, is not a policing problem. It is a widespread cultural result of toxic highway mindsets and inequality on the highway funding allocation, bourne out of decades of backward thinking class-orientated politics and half-wits in SUVs.
With things as bad as they sound there, maybe it's time for the police to invest in some bait bikes to catch these thieves.
These are hard crimes to solve after the fact even if the bike is recovered. Catching thieves in the act provides the evidence needed for successful prosecution, a disincentive to the thieves, and shows the public the police are acknowledging the problem and something is being done about it. Additionally it's pretty much guaranteed that a GPS equipped bait bike would, on occasion, lead the police to other stolen property.
Alternate idea: the police release statements warning the public against the dangers of the 'rising trend' of filling your d-lock with highly sensitive black market explosives
Wouldn't be surprised if they said, we can't coz h&s mumble mumble
No sht sherlock, it's a joke..
I wonder what these people say when some of their sh!t gets stolen?
Do they just shrug and say "Well, that do you expect?", as they presumably expect everyone else to do?
I'd wager, not…
Declaration: I have no political affiliations.
The Conservatives, in past have branded themselves as "the party of law and order"
That claim, over the last 10 years has been left in tatters.
In recent times, I have twice assisted a shop assistant in pursuing a shoplifter.
I have deterred one attempt at bike theft at a local supermarket.
I have escaped from one attempted bikejacking, and managed to avoid two other possible bikejackings.
On a daily basis I see the "ninjas" on illegal electric bikes on my local roads.
I have seen drivers use the footpath as an overtaking lane.
Etc, etc, etc.
So, this report does not shock me!
Do I expect an improvement with the next Government?
NO!
Surprise me Mr Starmer...
Tories have been in power for 14 years but yeah take a swipe at starmer - very smooth brain thinking
I dearly hope to be proved wrong!!
Please, Mr Starmer prove me wrong!!!
I lived in a constituency with a Labour MP for 26 years, he could not be asked to even send a single letter, not a written letter, but a single letter of the alphabet, in reply to my carefully considered letters concerning the deaths, injuries and dangers, caused by distracted mobile phone drivers. This Labour MP ignored every single letter.
When I did meet him, and pointed out a local road needed cycle lanes, his response "this road is not wide enough!" I pointed out the road was 12.2 metres wide, you don't get a 2 lane single carriageway any wider than this!! He walked off in a huff.
So, please, Mr Starmer PROVE ME WRONG!
Rubbish MPs come in all shapes, sizes and colours, and I certainly wouldn't judge their effectiveness on whether they write a letter.
I have had multiple responses from my Tory MP on topics ranging from road safety, prescriptions for asthma sufferers to support for mental health and homelessness. The letters just came back telling me that I had misunderstood and the government were doing everything brilliantly. He has certainly never taken up any of my issues in parliament, probably because I don't pay him £80000 a year as a consultant, unlike the oil industry.
This will be the first general election at which my son is old enough to vote (except despite my protests - "If the election is decided on one vote and you haven't voted, you realise I'll blame you" - he insists he cannot be bothered).
Anyhoo - my MP sent a letter out. First time he's ever done this, so he really must be worried. One letter, addressed to "XXX Brooksby (me), YYY Brooksby (my son)".
My wife was really miffed off that she didn't get one - I suggested our MP didn't want her to worry her pretty little head about such things…
I would still be suffering from dug in nails if I had the temerity to suggest that !
I over-egged it with a little pat on the head to make Quite Clear that I was being sarcastic
(Otherwise I'd be posting this on my phone from a sleeping bag behind the railway station…)
The railway station of where? Must be a good spot, care to share it?
Can you confirm that you are engaging with this thread from your hospital bed?
I can't believe he isn't more excited about the chance to swap one rich out of touch neocon globalist for another, whats wrong with him?
BTW - This Labour MP, on one night, in his constituency, within the space of one hour, had a teenager killed in a collision where the driver was driving at 72mph on a 30mph road, and a pregnant woman killed in another collision just 800 metres away, yet he could not be asked.
In response to my correspondence to him about Policing the road, told me to Contact PC Nick Knight to set up a citizen "roadwatch" scheme. Basically, he was telling me, if you want the roads to be Policed, DO IT YOURSELF!
Do I expect any improvement should Sunak get back in by some miracle? No, the last 14 years tell me that would not be probable.
Yeah, that is the depressing reality!
And you're a Police Officer!
A neighbour of mine, a Police dog handler, did ask me if I was interested in joining the Force.
I declined for a few reasons, one of them being I'm not good a following orders from so called 'superiors'.
But you have no political affiliation?
At least we have Plaid Cyrmru as a viable alternative.