Britain | The wheels of justice 

The scourge of stolen bikes in Britain

An experiment in Liverpool shows how the police can tackle bike theft

The rest of the bike has been stolen, a lone wheel remains locked to a bike stand.
Out of framePhotograph: Getty Images
|Liverpool

ON A SUMMER’S day in Southport, in north-west England, the Merseyside police were on the hunt for stolen bikes. Their suspicions were raised by a “well-known male”, recently out of prison, on a notably pricey bicycle. Officers stopped him, entered the bike’s details into a database and rang the owner, who had been under the impression his bike was locked up outside his workplace. It had been recovered before he’d realised it had gone.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The wheels of justice”

From the October 5th 2024 edition

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