Worst bike theft hotspots in England and Wales revealed

The worst hotspots for bike theft in England and Wales have been revealed this week, with Oxford among the worst areas for reported thefts, according to research conducted by data.police.co.uk in the year up until April 2014.

The data, which covered 92,508 reported thefts of bicycles, has been uploaded on a new website called Check That Bike.

The site enables victims of cycle theft and potential purchasers of second hand bikes to check data. It came about after founder John Moss' bike was stolen.

According to his research, nearly 850 bicycles were stolen from the OX1 postcode over a 12-month period.

Cambridge, which has a much higher proportion of people cycling regularly than Oxford does, was also among the worst hotspots for bike theft.

Another particularly bad area for cycle theft was London's SE1, which includes the South Bank, Waterloo Station, Borough Market and Elephant & Castle along with the capital's E1 postcode, encompassing areas such as Brick Lane and Shoreditch.

Other hotspots include BS1 (Bristol), PO1 (Portsmouth), LE1 (Leicester), followed by London’s N1, which includes King’s Cross and Angel.

The top ten postcodes in England & Wales for reported bike theft in 2013/14 were:

1 – Oxford OX1 – 846 thefts reported

2 – Cambridge CB1 – 781

3 – London SE1 – 734

4 – Oxford OX4 – 572

5 – Cambridge CB2 – 564

6 – London E1 – 557

7 – Bristol BS1 – 497

8 – Portsmouth PO1 – 495

9 – Leicester LS1 – 491

10 – London N1 – 456

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