The Crime Prevention Website

A new report, published by LV=Home Insurance a few days ago, has questioned 2,000 bike owners about their experiences of bike theft.  Unfortunately I have not been able to find the report, so have cobbled together the following statistics from other sources that clearly had access to LV’s press release.

Here’s the statistics I’ve found thus far:

  • Two thousand bike owners were surveyed
  • Twenty one per cent of them had had a bike stolen
  • Twenty per cent of these bike theft victims have had three or more bikes stolen
  • About 25% of people in London had suffered a bike theft
  • About 15% of people living in Wales had suffered a bike theft
  • An extrapolation from the surveyed bike owners is suggesting that 260,000 cyclists suspect that the bike they purchased during the past 12 months had been stolen
  • Seventy per cent of cyclists surveyed said they would consider buying and second hand bike and of these 27% said they wouldn’t ask about the bike’s background
  • Based on an average price of £220 the Insurer calculates the black market in stolen bikes to be worth over £58 million [the figures don’t actually quite work out, but without the press release...]
  • 30% of bikes stolen were taken from sheds and garages
  • 17% of bikes were taken from their driveway
  • 10% had the bike stolen from outside their office
  • 9% had the bike stolen from outside a bar or restaurant
  • [I don’t have info for the other 32%]

Have the findings told us anything new about bike theft?  No, not really, except that it’s good to have a value for the black market in cycle theft and it’s also interesting to know that there are 260,000 cyclists out there who know, or at least suspect, that they are riding around on someone else’s bike and they couldn’t care less!

So what should we do about it?  Well, at the bottom of this article there are links to other parts of this website for lots of useful facts and advice, so do please take a look.  The information will be particularly important if you have just got a new bike for Christmas and this includes children’s bikes.

For a bit of fun you could take the ‘risk factor’ test to see how at risk you are – go to the Bike theft and risk factors link below:

Oh, and don’t buy bikes which you think may have been stolen.  If you think someone’s dealing in nicked bikes inform the local police or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.  Bike theft is one of the few crime categories on the rise and we can help make a difference.

Keep ‘em peeled!

Bicycle security – the basics http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/vehicle-and-bike-security/504/bicycle-security/

Bike theft and risk factors http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/bicycle-security/627/bike-theft-and-risk-factors/

Minimum security levels for bikes http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/bicycle-security/628/minimum-security-levels-for-bikes/

Types of bike locks http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/bicycle-security/629/types-of-bike-locks/

blog comments powered by Disqus