A couple of incidents this week in London have shown that thieves are becoming ever more brazen and callous as to the risks they take when they nick a bike.
In both incidents, the bike theft occurred when the bike riders helped to tend to injured victims as a result of road incidents and so the bikes were not locked.
Police bike stolen
In the most recent incident in Stamford Hill, the thief stole the bicycle of the police officer as he was busy tending to a Police Community Support Officer who had been injured in a collision with a car in Stamford Hill.
The officer had arrived on his black and silver Specialized mountain bicycle to help the PCSO out but the bike was quickly stolen as it was left unaided on a pavement. The bike itself was not a police issue but had been donated to the police by a local business. The bike had the words Crosstail written on it.
Doctor’s bike
In the other incident, a doctor’s bike was stolen while she was tended to a road crash victim on Holloway Road in Archway.
Jennifer Perry has gone to the aid of a motorcyclist and despite resting the bike on her leg, a boy (in her words) just grabbed it and took off with it.
Jennifer only bought the £400 bike only two months ago. She told the Evening Standard: “I stopped to help and for someone to take advantage of that in such a way is upsetting. You have to wonder what the world is coming to.”
Bike mugging
While these incidents were not strictly bike mugging, such incidents are on the increase. Bike insurer ETA has that in the first three months of 2011, it has received as many claims for this type of theft as it did in the whole of 2010.
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See also
Irish look to extend bike hire scheme to other cities
Metal thieves target low value bikes for theft
