THE most stolen bicycles in Warrington have been revealed as bike crime continues to rise across the town.

Carrera tops the list of stolen bikes according to data uncovered in a Freedom of Information request by the Warrington Guardian.

In 2017, the popular bike brand most frequently caught the eye of opportunistic thieves in the town with 64 Carrera bikes reported as stolen in Warrington – which is more than one a week.

Other popular choices for thieves included Giant with 21 bikes stolen in 2017 and B’Twin with 19 models going missing during the same period.
Raleigh and Voodoo bicycles also made it into the list of most frequently stolen bikes. 

As more people start to take up cycling as the weather warms up, bicycle theft becomes a bigger problem for police.

But while the number of cyclists on the road increases at this time of year, the number of reported bike thefts has also seen a year-on-year rise too.

In 2015 police received 571 reports of stolen bicycles in Warrington.

In 2016, this figures increased to 596 while in 2017 there were 632 stolen bikes reported to officers in the town.

Cheshire Police have urged cyclists to sign up to a policing initiative to help reunite stolen property with its rightful owners as well as connect criminals with crimes they have committed.

A force spokesman said: “Cheshire Police recover a large number of bikes that have not been security marked. 

“These bikes will never get returned to their rightful owners, they will either be auctioned or donated to charity.

“Just five minutes of marking and recording could see the cycle returned to you following its retrieval.”

Operation Shield works by using a unique DNA liquid which contains an individual code to mark property

For information on Operation Shield visit cheshire.police.uk.