The cyclists who’ve tracked down their OWN stolen bikes as a result of lack of police motion – as map reveals worst-hit areas for thefts
- Have you got back a stolen bike? Please email: [email protected]
Cyclists claim they are having to find their stolen bikes with tracking devices or spotting them for sale on social media amid a lack of action by police.
Cycling UK has revealed a growing trend of riders in Britain attempting to trace their own stolen bikes, with some using ‘dangerous’ methods to track them down.
Many feel obliged to take action themselves given that just 3 per cent of reported bike thefts in the past five years have resulted in a charge or summons.
One cyclist found her bike for sale online for £55 and arranged to meet the seller with her fiancé and a friend, before asking to test drive it and then cycling off.
Another used a GPS tracker hidden in the frame to locate his bike inside a property, before being threatened when he arrived – but then eventually given it back.
But police chiefs have urged people not to take matters into their own hands given that it could put them at risk and harm a criminal investigation.
Fiona Ryalls, 33, from Bristol, was ‘heartbroken’ when her custom bike was stolen in August, but eventually found it for sale after scouring social media.
She told BBC Radio Bristol that she arranged a meeting with the seller and took her fiance and a male friend for support – even telling police about it.
Claiming that she was not ‘dissuaded’ by officers from going, Ms Ryalls added: ‘I asked to test drive the bike and I cycled off with it. I would have felt a lot more secure if I’d had police back-up (or) even if they had offered to come with me.
‘You don’t know what kind of person you are going to meet.’
Josh Steven’s bike was stolen in December, but the 33-year-old was able to track it down by using a GPS tracker hidden in the frame.
He said he told police and was informed an officer would be sent if he ‘could go to the property and get eyes on the bike’.
But when he arrived, he claims to have been told an officer could not attend and therefore decided to knock on the door himself, with a man opening it.
Mr Steven said: ‘I showed him the tracker on the phone. He went back into the house to get the bike and all of a sudden there was a younger guy climbing out of the window and I thought, ‘Oh no, he’s running off with my bike’.
‘He then threatens me and says ‘If you come any closer I’ll stab you’ and he gets quite aggressive.’
However, Mr Steven told the BBC he was then given his bike back by someone else in the house – but the case ‘inevitably’ did not result in a prosecution.
It comes after an unusual case that hit the headlines last year when a prolific bicycle thief was tracked down by the frustrated mother of an alleged victim who sat outside his house with a sign that read: ‘Where’s My Bike Dave?’.
Fiona Bateman outside David Seager’s house in Witney, Oxfordshire, after she claimed that he stole her son Graeme’s bike – with a sign reading: ‘Where’s my bike Dave?’
David Seager (left) avoided jail after he was convicted of eight bicycle thefts committed in the summer of 2022. Mrs Bateman claims that Seager is the man seen on CCTV stealing her son Graeme’s bike months before (right), although the bike in question has never been retrieved
David Seager, 49, stole eight bicycles in a summer-long spree in 2022 – months after Fiona Bateman set up outside his house after allegedly seeing him steal her son Graeme’s mountain bike on a neighbour’s CCTV camera.
Seager, of Witney, Oxfordshire, was reportedly identified by social media users as ‘Dave the Bike Thief’ after Mrs Bateman made an appeal in November 2021 – but she claimed ‘not much was happening’ after she referred the matter to the police.
Fed up, she then tracked Seager down and sat outside his house for three days with her placard, to the amusement of residents. A local Facebook group even dropped off a hot chocolate and a bunch of flowers.
At Oxford Crown Court in September last year, Seager avoided jail for the thefts – instead being given a suspended sentence and an order to complete a drug rehabilitation programme.
Following the sentencing, Mrs Bateman said: ‘We had a bike stolen by him. Does that mean I should feel entitled to steal someone else’s? It’s just frustrating that he got a slap on the wrist. Where are the bikes? How about buying my son a new bike?
‘We can’t afford the four, five, six hundred pounds to replace it. He stole so my son has to now walk. But that’s OK, just as long as Dave doesn’t feel aggrieved.’
Another bizarre case back in September 2023 saw an elite cyclist turned detective spend nearly £6,000 tracking down thieves who stole four of his bikes – before driving 1,200 miles to Poland to get them back.
Damian Groves, 34, was horrified when burglars made off with four professional cycles valued at £36,000 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, in June last year.
He passed on a series of names he had been given to police, believing they were opportunist thieves who simply broke into his garage at random – but was told that the names were not enough for the force to take action.
Determined to get justice, Mr Groves travelled across Europe to recover his bikes after they were shipped out of the country – hiring a private investigator and even flying a drone over an address in Leicester where he was told the bikes were.
Eventually, a Hungarian cycling enthusiast got in touch to say he was certain he had seen the bikes posted on a Polish sales site. Mr Groves confirmed they were his bikes and the investigator tracked the poster down to an address in Leicester.
He wrote to the seller, who replied with an apology, saying the bikes were in Poland but he could have them back. Mr Groves then travelled to Warsaw and after a 1,200-mile round trip returned with all four of his stolen bikes 48 hours later.
He estimated the ordeal cost him around £6,000 – with £2,500 spent on a private investigator, £300 to the blackmailer, £1,700 to operatives who collected his bikes in Warsaw and £1,200 driving there and back to collect them.
More than 365,000 bike thefts reported to police have gone unsolved since 2019 – equating to 89 per cent of all cases, according to Home Office data released earlier this year.
Damian Groves, 34, pictured with his partner Emily Smith, was horrified when burglars stole four professional cycles valued at £36,000 in Newcastle-under-Lyme in June last year
Mr Groves travelled across Europe to recover his bikes – as well as hiring a private investigator and even flying a drone over an address in Leicester where he was told the bikes were
Just 2 per cent or 8,437 thefts out of a total of 365,706 have resulted in an arrest and charge in the year to June 2023.
James Dunn launched a business called Back Pedal to combat the blight of bike and ebike theft in the UK, after his partner’s bike was stolen.
The firm installs GPS trackers to bikes and sends out what it calls ‘specialist recovery agents’ to find them if stolen.
He told MailOnline: ‘More and more people are reliant on their bike or ebike for their daily transport, so theft is not just about a financial hit, but a huge practical impact on their day to day life.
‘So, it’s understandable that people are taking matters into their own hands to combat bike theft. People just want their bikes back.
This comes with safety issues though. Really recovery should be left to the professionals who know how to safely recover and defuse dangerous situations.
‘We use security professionals, sometimes ex or retired police themselves, who love getting back stolen kit but know how to do it safely.’
He said 200 bikes and ebikes had been recovered by the firm’s teams with an 80 per cent recovery rate overall – representing more than £400,000 worth of bikes.
He added that 60 per cent of bikes were recovered within the first 48 hours, with the longest recovery period taking 221 days.
Sarah McMonagle, director of external affairs at Cycling UK, told MailOnline: ‘Bike theft is often perceived as a petty crime, but it can carry a huge social and financial impact on those people affected.
‘While we acknowledge the limitations on police resources, with more than half of stolen bikes being resold online, there’s clearly huge scope for improved targeting of online marketplaces to identify and prosecute serial offenders.
‘We understand that people want to get their bikes back, but it’s really concerning that more and more people feel their only option is to take matters into their own hands.
‘Attempting to recover a stolen bike from a thief can put that person at risk and should be a matter for the police. That’s why we’re calling on the police to take bike theft more seriously.’
Data released by Admiral insurance in May found 40 per cent of bikes were stolen from a shed or garage, while 35 per cent were stolen from a location away from home.
The average cost of a stolen bike reported to the firm’s claims team last year was around £1,200 – although some stolen bikes have been worth over £5,000.
Bicycle owners in South West London made the most claims, followed by those in the South East of the capital.
The Bristol postcode was in third place, followed by Edinburgh and Brighton in fourth and fifth respectively.
Other areas in the top ten were Kingston Upon Thames, East London, Reading, Southampton and Twickenham.
A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation which aired in July found 300 bike thefts had gone unsolved over three years in one 250 yard area around Cambridge rail station.
Reporters left a bike fitted with a tracker in a theft hotspot in Cambridge and filmed it being stolen.
They then followed the bike as it moved around Cambridge and then went up the M11. They tracked it to a house in Saffron Walden, Essex, where it was put up for sale online just 39 hours after being stolen.
Reporter Isobel Yeung arranged to buy the bike and secretly recorded the meeting with the seller. Initially, he gave her a fake back story, saying: ‘Lovely bike, basically brand new. My mum only used it, I think twice for a bike ride.’
But when she revealed herself to be a journalist who had filmed the theft, the seller admitted that he had bought the bike in Cambridge and gave it back to her. He denied knowing it was stolen.
Avon and Somerset Police told MailOnline that pedal cycle theft had fallen by 13 per cent across the force area, and in Bristol it had dropped 6.2 per cent, ‘however we continue to work proactively to further reduce this number’.
A spokesman added: ‘Operational demand means we prioritise attendance at incidents where the risk to the public is higher. However, all incidents are investigated.
‘Unfortunately, there are often very few proportionate lines of enquiry to follow and, as a result, the chances of solving the theft are low.’
The force also acknowledged that a ‘stolen bike can have a significant impact on someone’s life, especially if it is their primary mode of transport and we fully recognise the need for people to be able to use bikes safely, without having to worry about theft’.
It added that neighbourhood policing teams regularly host bike marking events at which advice is also given on how to reduce the risk of a bike being stolen.
Police also said a prolific bike thief was handed a criminal behaviour order in August for multiple offences in Bristol – and will be jailed for up to five years if this is breached.
In addition, the force said that last week three men were arrested following a robbery in Bristol city centre in which a bike was stolen, and have since been released on bail while enquiries continue.
The spokesman added: ‘We would always advise victims of thefts against taking any action themselves against a person they believe to be responsible as this puts them at risk but also could be detrimental to a police investigation.
Have you got back a stolen bike? Please email: [email protected]
