WHEELIE BAD: Cambridge is UK capital for bike theft

Cambridge may normally celebrate when beating Oxford to the top of league tables, but we have unfortunately topped another table which doesn’t paint the city in the best light: we have the largest number of bikes stolen per person in the UK. 

With new students bringing bikes to Cambridge each year and underestimating the ease with which thieves can take them, bike theft is a vicious cycle. 13 of the top 100 spots for bike theft in the UK are located within Cambridge – the most prolific spot being Station Road where 63 reported thefts occurred in the past year.

Want to escape the bubble? Then lock up your bike

More than 2000 bikes have been within Cambridge in the past year – perhaps an unsurprising statistic given that just over 50% of the population of Cambridge cycle once every week. Yet the figures from Cambridge seem particularly high, with 16.6 thefts per 1000 of the population, compared to just 9.1 in Oxford.

Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge said to Cambridge News ‘“As cyclists we can all help by making sure we lock our bikes securely, and public authorities can help by making sure there are sufficient secure bike parking facilities.”

Basically, make it more secure than this…

The moral of the story is? If you’re wheelie tyred of bikes being stolen, use a proper lock.