Nearly half a million bikes stolen annually in UK says Halifax Home Insurance

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Nearly half a million bikes stolen annually in UK says Halifax Home Insurance

Wed 12th Apr 2006

Recent figures state that nearly half a million bikes are stolen in the UK every day and that bicycle theft has increased by 9.5 per cent since 2001, Halifax Home Insurance has claimed today.

The insurer reports that thieves steal about £113 million worth of bikes every year and the equivalent of one in every fifty cyclists have their bicycle stolen.

Kingston upon Thames was the area worst hit by bike theft in 2005, followed by Greater London, Cambridge, Bristol and Oxford.

Halifax Home Insurance has urged bike owners to check the amount of cover offered by their home contents policy in order to ensure that it covers possessions outside of the home – seeing as one third of thefts take place away from the owner's property.

Vicky Emmott, from Halifax General Insurance, said: "To stand a better chance of deterring a thief, cyclists should ensure that their bikes are post-coded, securely locked and out of view hidden inside a locked garage, shed or outhouse – or even in the house."

Halifax Home Insurance covers bicycles to the value of £500 if contents plus cover is purchased, although if customers wish to cover their bikes both in and away from the home they must take out personal belongings cover.

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