Riders want more action from police

MORE cyclists were warning this week that they have been the victims of violent bike robberies near Regent’s Park – and are calling on police to take tougher action.

The latest theft was reported to police on Monday, while the following day four female cyclists said they were followed by a man on a moped who was photographing their bikes.

The New Journal reported last month that cyclists who train on the park’s Outer Circle had been hit by thieves who knock them off their bikes before stealing them.

The Regent’s Park Cyclists group, which represents the roughly 5,000 cyclists who train in the park, said the incidents were now becoming more frequent.

John Wilson, from West Hampstead, told the New Journal he was knocked off his electric bike at Chester Gate by thieves while cycling to work

“I heard another vehicle coming up behind me, and I was expecting it to pass me by,” he said.

“But then the next thing I noticed, because the road was wet [was that] their headlights were shining really close to me. I turned around to see what it was and that’s when they knocked me off the bike. It didn’t take much, it just knocked me off balance. I came off the bike onto the pavement, the bike crashed off into the road, and then one of them ran up to me.

“He had a torch and he shone it in my face, which totally blinded me, and he was saying ‘back off, back off.’ When I looked around they were gone. It all happens in about 20 seconds, so fast.”

Mr Wilson, 72, reported the crime at the end of October to the police, but in the absence of CCTV footage of the incident was told “there’s nothing they can do – there’s no evidence, there’s no witnesses”.

He has since been told his case was closed. Sean Epstein, who is coordinating a response to the thefts on behalf of Regent’s Park Cyclists, said attacks were now happening “every other day”, adding that cyclists who train at the park are “understandably terrified”.

He said: “As you can imagine, pushing someone off a bike while they’re riding at speed, then dragging them off the bike, is quite a violent exercise. It’s almost being thought of as another bike that’s been stolen in London, and we shrug our shoulders because that’s something we know that happens – rather than basically, it’s like a car-jacking. But it’s worse, because you don’t have a steel cage to protect you.”

According to Mr Epstein, cyclists are now “getting really upset about the police response”.

He said: “The basic experience of recent victims, is they report it to the police, the police show up, take the details, give them a crime reference number. Then either there is no follow-up, or the follow-up is ‘sorry, we don’t have any clear footage’, and then the case is closed.”

Cyclists who use the park would like the Met Police to establish a taskforce to investigate the robberies “on a systematic level” across the capital, Mr Epstein said.

He suggested a short-term solution could be for officers to provide well-policed “safe routes” between certain hours of the day.

A spokesperson for the Met said: “There are over 1.2 million bike journeys a year in London, the majority happen without incident. But we’re doing all that we can to prevent robberies and thefts targeted at cyclists as we understand it is a growing concern for some Londoners.

“Through our new Cycle Crime Reduction partnership we are working to make it harder to sell on stolen bikes through the second-hand market. We also have more officers in hotspot locations, where our intelligence tells us victims may be more at risk.”