Women afraid to trip bikes in London parks, biking chief claims
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Terrified cyclists are ditching high-end Brompton bikes amid a spate of violent muggings by gangs who disguise in park bushes and stalk riders on mopeds.
Shocking video footage from current months has captured a sequence of brazen assaults wherein thugs knock harmless cyclists off their bikes, and steal them from gardens and outdoors outlets.
It comes amid a Met Police warning that Albanian gangs are stealing costly bikes from the streets of the UK earlier than sending them to Russia to be bought.
Cycling teams mentioned the criminals have a ‘record’ of high-priced makes to focus on, together with these made by S-Works and Pinarello.
Brompton bikes – which vary in worth from £899 to £4,180 – are additionally being focused to such an extent that leases have declined amid rising fears they make customers a goal, a biking chief advised MailOnline.
Another group chief mentioned cyclists at the moment are masking up high-end model logos to keep away from being focused, whereas fanatics on boards say they’re disguising their bikes or switching to cheaper options.
A spokesperson for Brompton advised MailOnline the assaults have been ‘regarding’ and referred to as on the police to ‘do extra to maintain Londoners secure on their bikes’.
Have you had your bike stolen? Email: [email protected]
Shocking video footage from current months reveals a sequence of brazen assaults wherein thugs knock harmless cyclists off their bikes in addition to pinching them from gardens and outdoors outlets
It is quite common for the criminals to behave in gangs to additional intimidate bike riders
Ben Derbyshire, who’s a number one architect, was sat in a restaurant in Hackney, east London, when the tried theft occurred
Passers-by stop thieves from stealing a motorbike in Victoria Park, east London
The thief continues to pull on the bike as members of the general public intervene earlier than the thieves finally depart
This thief steals a Brompton bike that was chained down in its proprietor’s entrance backyard
The thief walks the bike out of the proprietor’s entrance backyard
Brompton didn’t remark particularly on the obvious decline in leases.
Islington Cycle Club, the UK’s largest membership with 850 members, advised MailOnline the muggings have been their ‘greatest concern’ proper now.
A spokesperson mentioned: ‘This is a really dwell problem for us… Unfortunately, we’re solely too conscious of incidents involving mopeds focusing on cyclists.
‘It’s in all probability the largest concern for our members proper now. We’ve issued steering to our members, which incorporates taking totally different routes to Regent’s Park (the place a lot of the incidents have occurred) and assembly up with different cyclists to trip in collectively. But none of it’s foolproof sadly.
‘It’s undoubtedly put some members off driving in the course of the early hours…though we’re additionally conscious of bikes being taken in the midst of the day as properly.’
The spokesperson added: ‘Although we all know that Bromptons are focused, it appears to be extra often high-end highway bikes.
‘Someone in one other membership was just lately focused with a moped following him wanting on the make of the bike and heard one of many moped guys say to the opposite that his bike ‘was on the record’.
‘Lots of individuals have now taken to masking up logos on bikes, particularly if you happen to’re driving an S-Works or Pinarello.’
Regent’s Park Cyclists chair Sean Epstein advised MailOnline ‘plenty of folks’, significantly girls, have been now turning their backs on driving bikes by way of concern of being attacked, significantly within the early hours of the morning.
He despatched a letter to Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, on behalf of quite a few biking organisations, highlighting the affect the incidents are having on the group.
One sufferer, Eliecer Alvarez, 26, was focused when biking to Regent’s Park simply after daybreak, as two males on e-bikes pulled up alongside him and beginning hitting and kicking him.
He advised the Standard: ‘I needed to go in zig zags. I began kicking them, screaming ‘assist me, someone assist me’.
‘One of the riders mentioned he was going to kill me,’ Alvarez mentioned, and shouted: ‘Is your bike value greater than your life?’
Tony Devenish, Conservative London Assembly Member for Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea, mentioned: ‘Cyclists at the moment are afraid to trip their bikes by way of Regents Park and different well-known landmarks in case they’re focused by felony gangs.
‘This is a damning indictment on Sadiq Khan, who has been London’s Police and Crime Commissioner for the previous eight years. Crime is uncontrolled below Sadiq Khan. We urgently want extra police on our streets.
‘The Met has at the very least 4,400 fewer frontline police than it wants. Susan Hall, the powerful and skilled Conservative candidate for Mayor, has a £200m plan to deal with crime and enhance policing. Labour and Sadiq Khan favor to put money into election gimmicks like freezing some Tube fares. Londoners can resolve in the event that they would like this cash to be invested in policing on 2 May.’
The letter in collaboration with varied bike firms like Brompton, Zwift and British Cycling
The chair of Regent’s Park Cyclists, Sean Epstein, says many individuals have stopped biking altogether due to the assaults – particularly girls
Cycling campaigners have written to Sir Mark Rowley (pictured) highlighting the affect the incidents are having on the biking group in London
The letter follows experiences of motorbike thefts in areas like Regent’s Park the place muggers sporting balaclavas method the bike owner on mopeds and violently snatch the bicycle earlier than taking off with it.
Most of the assaults occur when cyclists are on their approach to the park within the early morning, based on Mr Epstein.
In a ballot carried out by the group, 59% of the 1,400 pattern have decreased their biking ‘as a direct results of these assaults’.
Regent’s Park Cyclists organisation brings collectively greater than 30 golf equipment, that are made up of over 5,000 members in complete.
Mr Epstein advised MailOnline how ‘plenty of folks, particularly girls’ now not exit on their bikes.
He added: ‘Especially individuals who have solely began comparatively just lately. Since Covid there’s been a giant enhance in biking participation typically.
‘Active transport and lively journey teams who beforehand won’t have considered won’t have thought-about biking or strolling as a approach to do their commute and we have had a giant enhance in that.
‘And it has been nice to have a extra various and consultant of London biking group.
‘It’s all of these people who find themselves being impacted the toughest as a result of these are the individuals who it was already a wrestle to persuade their accomplice that it was okay for them to depart the home early within the morning at midnight by themselves.
This Brompton bike was stolen in January and the proprietor has requested the biking group to maintain a watch out for it
Stolen Bromptons are sometimes shared on-line by the proprietor within the hopes that their beloved bike will likely be returned to them. Pictured: A stolen Brompton
‘And now there’s this further layer they usually themselves do not feel secure, and their households do not feel secure letting them try this. So plenty of folks have absolutely stopped.’
FOI figures within the letter by Mr Epstein reveal how there right here have been 768 equally described violent bike thefts from November 2022 to November 2023.
He claims the incidents are sometimes handled in isolation when reported and that officers want to have a look at all the assaults collectively.
Mr Epstein mentioned: ‘What we’d like and what we’re asking for is an even bigger image view and somebody centrally on the Met to undergo all of the current historic robberies, and attempt to be a part of the dots up and see, for instance, are all of them occurring in the identical place? Are all of them occurring on the similar time?’
He added: ‘If you catch the perpetrators from one assault, you are more likely to resolve plenty of crimes on the similar time.’
Thousands of cyclists really feel much less secure due to the incidents, Mr Epstein claims, and he blames ‘perceived inaction’ of the police too.
He mentioned: ‘We want police to speak to us and to study from us, and work with them, we will inform them the place the hotspots are, the place they should be, the place folks really feel they’re susceptible.
‘Because that’s the present scenario. People really feel like they can not depart their home safely, which is loopy.’
Meanwhile, cyclists have been discussing ditching Bromptons for various cheaper fashions within the wake of the spate of muggings.
One bike owner mentioned on the London Cycling Reddit web page: ‘The problem is that individuals are being violently overwhelmed up for his or her Bromptons, insurance coverage for the bike is good however being punched within the face is not good.
‘I do know somebody who it occurred to, and have heard of too many different occurrences just lately, particularly close to Hackney/Stratford.’
Another person mentioned: ‘It’s occurring quite a bit on Lea Bridge highway and the cycle path by the canal. People ready within the bushes, soar out, push you off the bike after which kick the s**t out of you.
This £1,200 Brompton was stolen from 23-year-old John Jenkins as he made his approach to work in London
This £2,000 e-bike was stolen from a 72-year-old bike owner close to Regent’s Park on October 24
‘[It] Happened to 2 folks I do know personally and [I have] heard much more accounts of it too.
‘Also by Broadway Market, thieves wait so that you can dismount and get a lock out of your bag, then pushing you over to seize your bike earlier than it is even locked up – noticed that occur a number of occasions whereas I used to be moored there.
And a biking group warned that S-Works and Pinarello bikes are additionally being focused in addition to the Bromptons.
The foldable bikes are excellent for commuters who use a number of modes of transport as a result of they’re gentle and simple to tackle buses and trains.
They vary in value from £899 for an A-Line mannequin to £4,180 for an ‘ultralight titanium’ T-Line.
Jessse Finch Gnehm, from Camden, beforehand advised MailOnline: ‘I do not even really feel secure driving to the park not to mention within the park anymore. Especially within the early mornings.
‘Every moped makes my coronary heart race and I’m always wanting round for the following could be attacker. These days, I’m way more more likely to simply trip my stationary bike relatively than threat driving to Regent’s Park.’
Mr Epstein added: ‘The attackers are actually on the market particularly in search of folks. They do not have plates, they take away the plates from the bikes, they put on balaclavas, they put on all black and they’re on very clearly outlined foremost routes that plenty of cyclists take.’
A thief pinches a foldable bike from the entrance of a store whereas the proprietor is inside
Thieves goal Brompton bikes as a result of they’re costly and simple to move
In October 2023, a 72-year-old bike owner referred to as John was robbed of his £2,000 e-bike close to Regent’s Park, based on Stolen Ride.
A spokesperson for the Met mentioned: ‘There are over 1.2 million bike journeys a yr in London, the bulk occur with out incident. But we’re doing all that we will to forestall robberies and thefts focused at cyclists as we perceive it’s a rising concern for some Londoners.
‘Through our new Cycle Crime Reduction partnership we’re working to make it tougher to promote on stolen bikes by way of the second-hand market. We even have extra officers in hotspot places, the place our intelligence tells us victims could also be extra in danger.
‘We are additionally holding each day pop-up occasions throughout London that work to coach and advise cyclists on how you can retailer their bikes safely, in addition to encouraging them to register their bike with the Met without spending a dime so we will monitor them if they’re stolen.’
A spokesperson for Brompton mentioned: ‘ Cycling is booming in London proper now, the most recent TFL information reveals at 20% enhance from pre-pandemic ranges.
‘That’s why information of those thefts is so regarding, it dangers placing folks off biking which has such a optimistic affect on well being and the surroundings.
‘We’d prefer to see the police do extra to maintain Londoners secure on their bikes. That’s why we absolutely assist the work of Sean Epstein and the Regent’s Park Cyclists and why Brompton was proud to be among the many record of signatories on their letter to the Commissioner of the Met Police.’
Have you had your bike stolen? Email: [email protected]
