Now more than ever it’s important to ensure your bike is locked up correctly. According to UK crime data, 376,000 bicycles are stolen every year in the UK. This works out at about one bike stolen every 90 seconds. So if you haven’t fallen victim yet, count yourself as one of the lucky ones.
One of our customers wasn’t so fortunate. Their bike was stolen in broad daylight on a busy residential street in London. Scant consolation but a resident of one of the neighbouring flats caught the event on camera.
The video demonstrates just how brazen bike thieves have become in their quest to make a quick buck. As you can see if you look closely, the thieves use an angle grinder to cut through the D-lock and run off with the bike in broad daylight, all in a matter of seconds.
We spoke with the victim - a Pedalsure customer - about the incident.
“I’d been gone for about an hour or so to go for a walk. The bike was locked securely using gold rated locks, with pinhead anti theft skewers. Basically I did everything I could to make sure it was as well protected as possible.”
“The bike was an Omnium Mini. It’s a super useful small cargo bike which became so useful to get around London, going to the shops for example. I used to be a courier so have always loved cargo bikes. It was my second one of these.. The first one was also stolen in a similar manner, with an angle grinder. There’s not much you can do in those situations apart from making sure you've got cargo bike insurance.”
That’s where Pedalsure comes in. With our specialist cargo bike insurance, we are committed to making these situations as easy as possible to get you back in the saddle as swiftly as we can.
“The claim was all processed last week, which is super quick since the incident! The biggest delay was on my side, gathering all the receipts for everything. Every time I would email Pedalsure, I would hear back from them so quickly and it was clear they wanted to help make things as easy as possible for me, even with the current COVID-19 climate where things definitely aren’t easy for a business to run.”
There’s a happy ending to this story. Our customer decided to purchase a new bike!
“I found a mint condition 1992 Marin MTB which obviously is in keeping with the time being fluro yellow. I could have got a like for like replacement but fancied a bit of a change and I’ll whack a rack on this bike. It’ll be a hell of a lot of fun and hopefully less steal-able!”
Bikes thieves are well-organised and efficient. Keep your bike secured with appropriate locks and in the safest area possible. Our guide to locking your bike the right way has all the information you need to protect your bike.
Sometimes, of course, there really is nothing you can do to protect your bike against brazen thieves hell-bent on taking your bike – that’s where we come in. If you’re looking for additional peace of mind, get a quote from us today for cycle insurance that’s unbeatable value, super-fast and rated excellent.
