MORE TH>N names London bike theft capital

by Gill Montia

Story link: MORE TH>N names London bike theft capital

MORE TH>N has been carrying out city centre research aimed at making cyclists more aware of security.

In its “bike snatch” experiment, which involved unsecured bicycles left in high footfall locations, the insurer found the inhabitants of Liverpool to be the most trustworthy followed by the residents of Bristol.

A cycle left in Liverpool city centre took almost four hours to disappear, nearly twice the national average of two hours and 22 minutes.

However, in London an opportunist thief succumbed to temptation after only 17 minutes, setting a national record; Glasgow followed, trailing one hour and 13 minutes behind.

According to MORE TH>N, the number of bikes stolen from UK streets has risen to an estimated 300,000 equating to a theft every 105 seconds.

The recession has contributed to a 22.6% rise in bicycle sales over the past year and with June marking the beginning of the busiest period for bike thefts cyclists need to be particularly aware.

The average bicycle now costs £218 and only 5% of stolen bikes are ever recovered and returned to their owners, putting the cost to the nation at over £62 million a year.