Revealed: the worst London boroughs for bike thefts

London ranks as the worst region in England and Wales for bike theft
PA
Elly Blake31 May 2022
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Tower Hamlets has been revealed as the worst London borough for bike thefts.

Using police records, cycling insurer Bikmo found there were a total of 1,784 bicycles stolen in the east London borough in 2021, the highest in the capital.

This was followed by its neighbour Hackney which had 1,621 thefts.

Unsurprisingly, London came out as the worst region in England and Wales for stolen bikes, with an average of 390 thefts per 100,000 people.

The city was the worst for the rest of England and Wales with 1,565 thefts.

Although Tower Hamlets had the highest number of overall bike thefts, the City of London is the worst according to rate per 100,000 with 3,986. This is due to the area having a small population of residents, but a high number of people who travel into the area for work.

Second worst per 100,000 was Hammersmith and Fulham with a rate of 732, Tower Hamlets was third, with a rate of 70,2 and Hackney and Westminster, fourth and fifth respectively.

The London borough with the lowest number of bike thefts per 100,000 people was Croydon, with a rate of 56. This is equivalent to 202 total thefts.

The lowest number of total thefts was the London borough of Bexley with 139. It has, however, seen the highest increase in bike theft in London, with an increase of 52.75 per cent.

The research from Bikmo shows reported bike thefts in England and Wales dropped by 10 per cent from 2020 to 2021, with 67,116 bikes stolen in 2021, down from 75,573 the year before.

A number of factors may be responsible for this drop, including changing habits due to the pandemic with fewer people commuting into towns and cities, it said.

Mark Cleland, UK Cycle Crime Lead for British Transport Police said: “It is promising to see cycle crime reducing despite the huge uptake in bike sales over the last two years.

“Of course there are still cycle crime hotspots that we’re focussing our attention on and we are working with organisations such as Gumtree and the Bicycle Association to disrupt organised crime.”

Stephen Holt, of the Bicycle Association added: “It’s good to see a reduction in reported bike thefts, but it remains a significant issue for cyclists and bike retailers alike.”

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