“I got quite upset. I really could have done without an additional problem.”
That was Vincent’s reaction when he got a bike stolen for the fourth time.
The 51-year-old banker really needed his Norco bike to commute easily from his home to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where his daughter had been staying for three weeks.
He said: “I was shocked that someone could do this right in front of a hospital.”
His two previous bikes were stolen from his front yard near Holland Park where he lived at the time.
A third bike vanished during the night from Exhibition road in South Kensington, while he was attending his work Christmas party at the V&A.
He said: “It’s a busy area where I wouldn’t expect something like this to happen.”
The bikes had always been locked.
He said: “I bought a better lock each time.
“Ending with a D-lock, which seems to be the best.”
His current Trek bike doesn’t spend much time outside when not on the road.
It is either safely stored behind doors at home or in secured parking in the office.
When and where is your bike most likely to be stolen?
Vincent is just of many Londoners affected by this type of crime. Nearly 70,000 bikes have been reported stolen in London between March 2021 and February 2025, Met Police data show.
This means 48 bikes a day.
Hackney comes first as the worst borough for bike theft.
It is followed by Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Westminster and Camden.
All five boroughs account for more than one third of the total stolen bikes (36.58%) over this period.
Theft of bikes has decreased by 12% between 2022 and 2024, from 17,828 to 15,748.
However these figures only show bikes being reported stolen to the police.
Vincent said: “I did not bother reporting the theft to the police.
“I knew we weren’t going to mention the theft to the insurance company.
“It wasn’t worth it as the bikes were low value.”
On the other hand, Clapham resident Angela spent quite a lot of time filling in insurance papers, after a double burglary in the family garden shed.
Office of National Statistics (ONS) data show that almost half (49%) of bike theft occurred from this type of semi-private areas.
Her very sporty family of four saw four bikes worth a total of £8,000 disappear on a Thursday night.
A typical statistical hit as ONS data show that just under three quarter of bikes (72%) are stolen during the week and mostly (58%) between 6pm and 6am.
A financial impact
The thieves also stole another one in a neighbouring garden on their way out past three gardens, some of them with dogs.
The 61-year-old and her husband decided to go with two better bikes with the insurance money.
A brand new Condor and a Cube bikes were stored in the garden shed that was equipped with a big padlock.
Then three months later in August, Angela noticed the shed’s door was wide open.
She said: “It had rained during the night.
“I just looked at the shed and I thought, oh, my God, the door is open.”
This time thieves hadn’t broken the padlock, they had broken the hinges.
The housewife said: “It’s horrible to think that they’ve been watching us, and they knew what was going on in our house.
“Because they obviously waited for us to get the insurance money and replace the bikes.
“They knew exactly, once again, how to get in, and what they were doing.”
The two bikes were replaced again and so was the storage system.
A big steel box with two padlocks is now sitting in the garden.
Angela said: “It’s a real sort of Fort Knox kind of a bike shed.
“I’d like to think it’s pretty secure.”
Individual value of the family bikes are on the higher end, ONS data show that one third (34%) of the stolen bikes are between £200 and £500.
An emotional impact
Three quarters (75%) of victims reported being emotionally affected.
Annoyance, anger and shock are the most reported emotional reactions from victims.
Humanitarian aid worker Caroline certainly felt very angry and frustrated when her £250 Decathlon bike vanished right in front of her eyes from the front of her home in Queen’s Park.
She was getting ready for the morning school run with her children, then aged ten and 12 years old.
Suddenly a man in his twenties wearing a hoodie emerged from behind the children and disappeared with her bike.
She said: “We caught him red handed.
“The kids were really shocked.”
The 46-year-old challenged the thief by shouting at him, without much success.
The police strongly advise that victims of theft do not confront thieves in any way.
Instead, they encourage people to report the incident as soon as possible, so officers can attend the scene and quickly investigate.
Additional police recommendations are to use a good quality Solid Secure lock, even when the bike is at home.
Bikes can also be registered with a security database such as https://www.bikeregister.com/.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We encourage people to report as soon as possible whenever they have been a victim of theft, so officers can investigate swiftly.
“We understand the impact that theft and robbery can have on victims – it’s an invasive and sometimes violent crime – and we’re committed to protecting Londoners and tackling this issue as we make the capital safer.”
