Cyclo can only suppose that Halfords are looking to promote the purchase of new bike locks (can’t blame them really, it’s their job) as they have issued a press release about the dire state of affairs that is cycle theft in the UK. Using a Freedom of Information request to each police force, they have estimated that most bikes reported stolen have a value of between £100 and £500 with an average of value of £340 and that, according to police crime statistics, a total of 115,147 bikes were reported stolen in the UK last year. However, according to the British Crime Survey, that Halfords also cite, the true number of thefts is closer to 533,000 (the equivalent of a bike going “missing” every minute). If the figure is correct then almost 80% of owners are failing to report thefts…
According to the figures obtained by Halfords the Top 10 police forces for bike theft in 2010 were:
Metropolitan police: 21,315
Thames Valley: 6,060
Greater Manchester: 5,185
Cambridgeshire: 4,477
Avon and Somerset: 3,895
West Midlands: 3,222
Leicestershire: 3,057
Lancashire: 2,727
Sussex: 2,668
Humberside: 2,440