New stand which could slash thefts of bicycles in London

A designer has invented a bike stand he claims is more theft-proof than the type commonly used on London streets.

Denis Quilligan’s steel stand ensures that both the back and front wheels are gripped securely to make the bike harder for a thief to remove.

He came up with the idea after finding the only place to secure his bike near King’s Cross station was a regular rack where he was “confronted with the prospect of losing a wheel”.

Mr Quilligan believes his One Lock bikeDock could be solution to cyclists, particularly commuters using station facilities, carrying two locks or returning to find their frame “dismembered” of its wheels.

To hold the bike in place, the cyclist reverses their bike into the rear wheel holder and then locks their front wheel to the other part of the stand.

They were trialled by the University of London near SOAS and six are now installed at Jim Peters Stadium in Barking and Dagenham’s Mayesbrook Park, from where no thefts were reported since the pilot began a year ago.

The stands are made from steel tubing in a Barking and Dagenham factory and each one holds two bikes without their handlebars clashing.

Mr Quilligan, 70, from Camden, said: “The bugbear for many cyclists is dragging around locks and chains and cables.

“There’s a huge percentage of us who just have one lock with us and you take your chances.

“One Lock bikeDock is for the commuter cyclist who needs to lock up all day but doesn’t have the security of knowing their pride and joy will be in one piece when they come back after work.

“The problem for me was how to trap the back wheel, but then how the front wheel could be locked together with the frame more easily.

“With the One Lock bikeDock you put the bike in and you can’t pull it out once you’ve locked the bike up because it’s jammed the back wheel.”

Nick Davies, principal transport officer at Barking and Dagenham council, said: “We actively promote cyclists locking their bikes but we know in reality that can be very inconvenient and expensive so the majority of cyclists still use one lock, so these stands were a way of addressing that issue.”

According to theft data released last year by BikeRegister, the national cycle database, London was Britain’s most targeted city, followed by Edinburgh and Oxford.

Areas with an SW postcode had the most thefts, followed by SE and N1.

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