"Scumbags" ram raid bike shop, but owner can't claim insurance as excess soared 900% after another burglary last year

A bike shop owner whose business was this weekend targeted by a second burglary in eight months has said they cannot even afford to make an insurance claim as their excess was hiked 900% after the first break-in last year.

Skinnergate Cycles in Stockton-on-Tees was ram raided at around 2am on Saturday morning (12 April), CCTV footage showing the business's shutters being smashed open by someone in a vehicle before others entered the shop and made off with two bikes.

One of the two stolen e-bikes, worth over £3,000, was found by police within 45 minutes, shop owner Grant Maciver thanking Cleveland Police for their "rapid response". However, the "scumbags" responsible also took a size medium Cube Stereo Hybrid ONE44 HPC e-bike, worth around £4,000, which has still not been recovered.

Stolen Cube e-bike, size medium (credit: Skinnergate Cycles)

The shop was left badly damaged too, smashed glass across the floor, Grant telling us that it is the second time Skinnergate Cycles has been targeted by criminals in the past eight months. A previous break-in in broad daylight last August saw a masked gang of seven in a stolen van cut through the shutters with an angle grinder before smashing the glass. 

Bike shop rammed by vehicle during burglary (credit: Skinnergate Cycles)

"The glass was laminated so it took them a lot longer to get in, hence they only got five bikes but badly damaged several others," Grant said, explaining how the total value of insurance claim was "around £25k".

As a result, when the policy came up for renewal, the bike shop's theft excess was hiked from £500 to £5,000 per claim, while "the premium increased by £2,000 and we had to spend an additional £2,300 on security upgrades". 

"We had a quote from another insurer and the excess on that policy was going to be £10,000. We've not had the building insurance renewal through yet and that will include both of these incidents so I dread to think what the impact will be," he added.

It means they will not be making a claim for this weekend's break-in, the family-run business instead shouldering the thousands of pounds lost through the stolen bike and damage.

Grant also urged cyclists to be vigilant when buying "cheap nearly new bikes".

"Don't support these scumbags, your car, your work tools, your bike etc. could be next, they don't care who they steal from," he said. "Please think before buying 'cheap nearly new bikes'. If there's no receipt, no handbook, no charger then it's more than likely stolen.

"Popular comments are 'Never mind the shop has insurance' but because of last year's burglary we now have a £5,000 excess on contents cover, so no, we can't claim for this loss. Plus there are other elements relating to the building damage that won't be covered either, so the losses will be thousands, plus further increases in annual premiums."
 

Bike shop rammed by vehicle during burglary (credit: Skinnergate Cycles)

Thankfully no customer bikes were taken during the break-in and Skinnergate Cycles remains open for business via its other entrance.

"I'm of a view that too many shop have been hit recently and perhaps raising the public profile of the impact this has might get some action," Grant told us following the latest break-in. "There's and underbelly of low level criminals now that run free doing whatever they want and the legal system as it stands is not a deterrent. The police regularly get criticised but they too are fighting against what seems to be an outdated legal system."

Organised raids on bike shops have become a concerningly frequent story on this website. Earlier this year a rare gold Aurum Magma was among multiple bikes stolen in the latest professional raid on Northamptonshire bike shop The Gorilla Firm, that after four "Mission Impossible-style" burglary attempts last year left police questioning if the crimes were an "inside job".

During one successful attempt the burglars cut their way into the building's staff toilet from below and somehow evaded the company's motion sensor CCTV by crawling across the floor, before "clearing out" the shop's SRAM componentry and power meters.

Thieves raid Pedal Power Cycles (credit: Pedal Power Cycles Ipswich)

> "We've lost everything": Thieves disable CCTV and cut phone lines as "devastated" bike shop the latest cycling business targeted in organised overnight raid

In September 2024, C6 Bikes in Cambridgeshire was also targeted in a break-in described as "like [the] Hatton Garden heist", the organisation involved so sophisticated it left owner Steve Heathcock telling us, "If you told me the SAS did this, I'd believe you".

The targeted raid saw a 10m-high roof scaled, internet wires cut, access gained by a "super precise" cut to an exterior wall, complex alarms disabled, and £200,000 of stock stolen, all without leaving a trace or any CCTV footage.

C6 Bikes hit by "brutal" burglary (credit: Steve Heathcock)

"Every single bike had gone, plus their pick of the customer bikes we had in the workshop," Steve said. "Trek Madones, all the highest stuff. We had to replace six customer bikes, every single stock bike we had. Cannondale SuperSix Evos, Trek Domanes, Trek Madones, Orange e-bikes, Santa Cruz mountain bikes, Cannondale mountain bikes, everything. All the Fox clothing, helmets, all the high-end groupsets like eTap, Red eTap, all the high-end parts and accessories, they knew exactly what they were getting.

"If you told me the SAS fast-roped out a helicopter and did this, I would believe you. Because of the way they disarmed that alarm, you can't even open the case without setting the anti-tamper trigger off. They knew where the anti-tamper trigger was on that case. They knew it had to peel up a specific corner. The alarm engineer said to me, 'I don't think I could have done this without setting it off, I don't know how they did it'.

"There was a perfect 50cm square cut in the side of the wall. Just real precise, clean, like Ocean's Eleven type stuff. Super neat. No mess anywhere, no destruction, just super precise. We couldn't believe it and the insurance company couldn't believe it."