Nobody wants to find out their bike has been stolen. It can be a devastating experience, which prompts a string of frustrating steps, such as reporting the theft to the police and speaking to your insurance provider. It also raises the question, how am I going to get around?
That’s where Brompton has decided to step in. It is offering any Londoners who have had their bicycle stolen free bike hire while they seek a replacement.
Brompton has decided to offer complimentary cycle hire following London Cycling Campaign’s report into bicycle theft, which was published last week. LCC estimates 40,000 bicycles are stolen annually in the capital city and that only 2 per cent of these bikes are recovered.
- Read more: Four steps to follow if your bike is stolen
Julian Scriven, managing director of Brompton Bike Hire, says: “It is saddening to hear the scale of bike thefts in the Capital, especially since the popularity of travelling via two wheels has increased dramatically in recent years.”
“We’re delighted to be able to help Londoners get back into the saddle and reduce the worries of finding an immediate bike replacement by providing complimentary access to a bike from one of our many hire stations across the city,” Scriven adds.
Londoners can email brompton@wearetheromans.com to receive a code that will provide them with complimentary bike hire for two weeks from the folding bicycle company’s Brompton Bike Hire locations via the Brompton app.
To find your closest bike hire station, you can look at Brompton’s interactive map.
LCC’s survey of 1,924 London cyclists also found that 79 per cent of those reporting the loss of a bike said the Metropolitan Police had taken no action and 68 per cent considered the police response inadequate.
The campaign group has launched a petition that accompanies its report, which calls on the deputy mayor for policing and crime to implement its recommendations to reduce bike theft in London.
The recommendations include that the mayor reinstates the cycling theft task force; that the Met Police tracks bicycle theft properly; and that the government makes bike marking and logging with a bike register mandatory, as it is in France.
In January, we reported that the British Transport Police had reversed its decision not to investigate thefts of bicycles that had been left outside train stations for more than two hours.
There was a call from the Liberal Democrats last year to implement “bike bait” operations to catch bicycle thieves.
Brompton’s latest accounts reveal losses of £2m and a drop in sales. CEO Will Butler-Adams said this was driven by challenges in the industry and “wider global economic uncertainty” but the company “remains optimistic”.
