Police warn about bicycle thefts

The police are investigating a recent series of bicycle thefts from the bike shed, including one student who placed a lock around the front wheel and thus lost the whole bike, apart from the front wheel. The suspect, caught on CCTV, tends to wait for a user to let him in, as a card is required for access. Then he carries a bicycle in and leaves some time later with a stolen one, often of high value.

Surveillance of the bike shed shows the great extent to which students tailgate and allow others to tailgate. The advice for bike shed users is to ensure they lock their bicycles up with high security locks (ideally a “D” lock should be attached to the main frame, not to the wheel!) and to avoid being tailgated. While the spate of thefts of laptops, iPods and phones, even in secure areas, is a result of students and staff leaving property unattended, it is also a product of letting unauthorised people into restricted areas.

College Security said that they were unable to release CCTV images of the suspect as they have “not been proved to have committed an offence yet.”

The Head of College Security, Terry Branch, reminded students to not allow “tailgating” into the bike shed and that the College sells gold standard D locks at half the usual price to help students secure their bicycles.