Good afternoon,

As I am sure you are all aware there is a large problem of bike thefts in Lancaster City Centre. This is generally done by youths who want a bike they can ride around on or by organised criminals who will go to sell on the bike and make a small fortune from the numerous stolen bikes they sell.

If you see anyone in the process of stealing or believe a bike is about to be stolen for example the bike is surrounded by people wearing balaclavas please do not hesitate to call 999. This could allow us to stop the offenders leaving the scene and stop the bike being stolen.

Remember to keep your bike locked with a sufficient and ideally lock the wheels as well because if the offender cannot steal the whole bike they will often take just the wheels.

If possible secure your bike in an area that is covered by CCTV to further deter offenders and if you unfortunately do become the victim of bike theft it would make it easier to identify offenders and retrieve your bike.

Thank you for reading,

PCSO 7516 Tyler Wakeman

Lancaster NPT

Lancashire Constabulary