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St Albans cycle racks suspended (Thameslink) Cycle racks “suspended” and taped off outside train station where one bike is stolen every two days
Rows of cycle racks located outside St Albans City station – where one bike is reported stolen every two days – have been taped off and “suspended” as part of attempts to encourage cyclists to use the station’s secure CCTV-covered cycling parking facilities instead, amid ongoing concerns about the ever-growing number of bike thefts in the area.
In 2023 a Freedom of Information request to the British Transport Police revealed that St Albans City station, one of two stations to serve the Hertfordshire city, suffered the highest number of bike thefts reported to have taken place at railway stations in England, Scotland, and Wales the previous year, with 260 cyclists reporting that their bike was stolen from the station in 2022.
And last week, the Sheffield stands located on the pavement outside the station were spotted by locals covered in tape, in an apparent bid to prevent cyclists from locking their bikes to them, while notices attached to the parking facilities informed commuters that the racks were now “suspended”.
> Bike thefts at train stations up 39% year-on-year, research reveals
According to Govia Thameslink Railway, the operating company which runs the Thameslink mainline route, the racks were suspended on the recommendation of the British Transport Police, who were concerned that the alarming theft rate from 2022 was continuing to rise.
“We’re encouraging passengers to use our free Cycle Hub to securely lock bikes away at St Albans City station,” a spokesperson told the Herts Advertiser.
“The decision to suspend these racks outside the station was made following a recommendation from the British Transport Police, and discussions between station management and local stakeholders due to an increase in bike thefts.
“A fob to access the Cycle Hub can be obtained from the ticket office with a proof of ID.”
The Cycle Hub noted by Thameslink has capacity for 415 bikes, and is covered by CCTV cameras and can only be accessed with a contactless fob.
The operator also pointed out that cyclists can avail of the two other secure bike parking areas at the station, which they say can be accessed “free of charge and without a fob”, and are “covered by better lighting and CCTV”.
However, despite Thameslink urging St Albans cyclists to avoid the Sheffield stands in favour of the station’s ‘secure’ Cycle Hub, that particular fob-accessed facility also hasn’t been immune to reports of bike theft and suspect security.
In August 2022, local cyclist George Cairns posted on social media that his wife’s e-bike was stolen from St Albans City’s Cycle Hub and that, despite the facility being “riddled with CCTV”, the British Transport Police informed them that they would only investigate the matter if a witness came forward.
Meanwhile, in September 2024, another social media user pointed out that the “supposed secure bike racks have doors that don’t lock” – and had failed to do so for four weeks.
While Thameslink has responded to St Albans City’s grim bike theft numbers by warning cyclists to avoid certain bike stands, in 2023 cycling campaigners in Winchester similarly called on commuters to think twice about using their local railway station’s cycle hub – responsible for the ninth largest number of reported bike thefts, according to the British Transport Police’s 2022 stats, and dubbed an “undercover bike showroom for thieves”.
“We have known for a while the covered bike racks, or the ‘Hub’, are targeted by thieves,” Cycle Winchester said, after it was revealed 135 bikes were stolen from the station in 2022.
“South Western Railway (SWR) staff also know it is a hot spot. The police don’t, as a rule, investigate bike thefts or review CCTV recordings even when asked.
“At times it has the characteristics of an undercover bike showroom for thieves with little chance of being caught. Our advice is not to use the Hub but if you must park there – take an old bike and use a D-Lock.
“The rate of theft from Winchester station is 2.5 times higher than that at Southampton Station with 46 bikes recorded as being taken in the last 12 months. Without a bike, you can’t cycle to the station.”
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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28 comments
Yet another 'no go' area for cyclists.
If cars were routinely being stolen from a police station car park there would be a very different response.
Or from ANY car park.
It would have to be the police's cars... although stealing bikes from a police station does seem to fall in to the "low hanging fruit" bracket for them (one a year care of road.cc):
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-31-august-2021-285993
https://road.cc/content/news/man-caught-trying-steal-bike-police-station...
https://road.cc/content/news/man-arrested-after-trying-steal-bike-police...
A crime is a crime and police must take it seriously. This is just the tip if the iceberg and represents our collective liberal attitude towards the British values that our previous generations held high.
Yes, one well recalls Churchill rallying the troops by reminding them that they were fighting for the right to lock their bicycles in a less secure place than one available nearby. In those days bicycle theft was absolutely unheard of and if some foreign ne'erdowell had the temerity to lay his garlic-smelling digits on a good old British bicycle frame they would be iinstantly apprehended by Dixon of Dock Green and given a good old British birching round the back of the pavillion, no questions asked. Snickers were called Marathons back then and they were bigger, too, and cheaper, and you could pay for them with a good old British thrupenny bit. Golden days, all lost to liberalism...
Wasn't Churchill part of the problem - after all he was a slippery type, what with being of forin' extraction and all? In fact, come to think of it ... he was also probably a liberal all along, and his temporary "defection" to that party was probably part of the deception?
I would like to see a bit more of the old "dissuading people from stealing bikes" and "making people think twice about dangerous road behaviours" - but I can't say for sure if those are our most critical issues right now.
I'm interested to know exactly what "British values" are in the opinion of our new poster * and how they feel we have become lacadasical about them. Plus exactly what this has to do with bike theft. As opposed to, say, differences in what police are tasked with by government, changing crime patterns **, a decrease in the number of police per head of population, a general growth in legislation over time, higher modern evidential standards (probably better overall)...
* Not really.
** All kinds of reasons - for one I suspect this woke "internet" thingy might have something to do with it?
Is this shite talk or sarcasm? Its so hard to tell these days.
Localised examples aside, crime in the UK is at an all time low.
https://policinginsight.com/feature/analysis/most-crime-has-fallen-by-90...
So, the police know that it's a hotspot for bike thefts, so why don't they deploy a couple of honeypot bikes fitted with trackers - that would lead to some prosecutions and hopefully uncover evidence of other crimes too.
Presumably because "it's in the flats" or abroad, both seem to be reasons for police NFA. And the bright spark who did this would have to explain the loss of the money spent on trackers!
I imagine also the police are adequately supplied with crime to be dealing with and don't want to solicit further business. Sounds like the courts and prisons feel the same way.
so why don't they deploy a couple of honeypot bikes fitted with trackers
Come, come HP! You know why. The offence involves cyclists or cycles, so doesn't count.
You'd think so, wouldn't you, but it would appear that the authorities have previous, on this front...
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclists-warned-not-park-train-station-thef...
What a lovely idea, but based on very personal experience the local filth will have far more sympathy for the offender than any victim.
My experience of London E10, E11 and E15 is that any theft is your own fault for owning a bike in the first place. Should you find the thief they will be simultaneously too busy to assist and strangely keen to nick you for paying with a cancelled cheque or any attempt to retrieve your property.
If they're trying to nick you for paying with a cancelled cheque, then they're probably the time police thinking that you're a time traveller.
Bloomin' Time Police think they're above the law (of causality) parking their boxes on the pavements at any point in space-time without so much as a by-your-leave...
IAF, IIRC the time police used/use/will use vortex manipulators in their wrists?
Typical - they just (Time)lord it over us
Or even get a plod in civvies to hang around that one rack for a day or two and catch the culprit red handed and solve the problem at a stroke, not rocket science...
It should be a lot more time efficient to lock up a honeypot bike and then just get on with other stuff until the GPS detects movement. Another advantage is that they can track where the bike is being taken to and then with a suitable warrant, they can find a whole load of other stolen items too.
Unless it's in a block of flats, IIRC.
They could always hand out a few FPNs to rule-breaking cyclists while they're there...
Not wearing a helmet?
Not having a bell / light / reflectives mounted on your bike?
Running a camera without displaying a CCTV warning notice (GDPR regulations, of course!)?
Riding on the road when there is a cycle lane next to it? Riding in the middle of the road? Riding two-abreast?
Incorrect sock height?
You omitted 'not wearing personal HiViz'!
And 'wasting police time by reporting offences the police definitely don't want to know about'
British Transport Police informed them that they would only investigate the matter if a witness came forward
The police don’t, as a rule, investigate bike thefts or review CCTV recordings even when asked
Yes, that's our brave lads all right!
Bike theft is so high in the Netherlands that most people use the cheapest bike they can, and even don't lock them knowing they will get 'borrowed'. They simply 'borrow' another unlocked bike. This was the observation from a friend who lived there for a while, but it's probable he was a kleptomaniac.
All the thefts are probably down to one individual or gang in each location. If only there were enough police to take this seriously and investigate, most thefts could be eliminated. Without secure bike parking the wished-for increase in active travel will never happen.
You'd think that the police would jump at the opportunity to harvest "low hanging fruit" - if only to boost their clear up rate, even if they don't actual consider bike thefts to be a priority
You'd think that the police would jump at the opportunity to harvest "low hanging fruit" - if only to boost their clear up rate
This idea relies upon the theory that they don't have a means of eliminating the offences they don't care about from their 'statistics' (there are lies, damn' lies etc.). I think they do- in Lancashire I know they have hundreds of 'no MOT' offences, for instance, reported and I don't know of any of these reports which have been acted upon.
But you'd think that being able to point to crimes solved would be better than ignoring them, as the victims of the crimes know that they exist, even if they don't show up in the stats. Better to show positive results to everybody, than negative results to a few.