Londons bikers biggest target for bike thieves

For the second year running London bikers have been found by national research to be most at risk of having their motorcycle stolen.

London’s plush WC postcode area topped the Carole Nash Motorcycle Theft Survey 2003 which was compiled by the UK’s leading motorcycle insurance specialist following analysis of claims among its 220,000 biking policyholders. The neighbouring EC postal district, which topped last year’s theft league, was ranked second with all eight of the capital’s postcodes heading the table.

Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire also emerged as key theft hotspots. Wigan (WN) was found to endure the worst record outside of London, closely followed by Bradford (BD), whilst Manchester (M), Oldham (OL), Leeds (LS), Bolton (BL) and Wakefield (WF) were all among the top 20 highest risk districts outside the capital.

Scottish bikers enjoyed the best records with seven of the top ten best performing areas found in Scotland. The remaining three were Northern Ireland (BT), Fylde (FY) and Llandrindod Wells (LD).

Commenting on the findings, Carole Nash’s Operations Manager Dave Bowcock - who reports the firm’s annual theft claims bill tops £7.5m - said: “There are probably two reasons why central London districts suffer significantly higher theft risks. Firstly, they are affluent areas in which more desirable, high performance bikes with an equally high black market resale and break up value are likely to be found and targeted. Secondly, scooters, which are easily the most stolen models nationally, are more prevalent in densely urban areas like London.”

He added: “But the poor performance of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire districts highlights how motorcycle theft is a national problem which needs to be addressed by both motorcycle manufacturers and owners. Because they are both valuable and portable, bikes are an attractive target for thieves and appropriate security, such as ground anchors, immobilisers and alarms, are essential deterrents. The lack of secure motorcycle parks is another major issue.”

Whilst the research largely echoed the findings of Carole Nash’s 2002 survey, there were also notable winners and losers. Edinburgh (EH) climbed 74 places up the table to become the 11th highest risk area outside London whilst other districts which saw significant rises in theft including Croydon (CR), St. Albans (AL)and Twickenham (TW). But there was good news for Cambridge (CB) and Kilmarnock (KA) bikers who dropped 72 and 60 places respectively, with Aberdeen (AB), Kirkcaldy (KY), Torquay (TQ) and Uxbridge (UB) among those enjoying notably improved theft records.

Carole Nash’s research comes less than two months after publication of the Home Office’s own investigation into motorcycle theft. The Government’s findings on regional theft patterns during 2000 largely mirrors the insurance firm’s own analysis, finding the City of London police district having the highest theft rates, followed by London’s Metropolitan area and Greater Manchester. Highlighting the menace of bike theft, the report found that motorcycles were around twice as likely to be stolen as cars. It reported nearly 37,000 bike thefts with around 12,000 machines not being recovered.

“Much more needs to be done to reduce the risk of theft and increase the chances of recovering stolen motorcycles,” commented Mr. Bowcock. He pointed out that Carole Nash, concerned at the rising cost of bike theft and the impact it has on insurance premiums, now offers discounted motorcycle security products with FREE home fitting in a bid to halt thieves in their tracks. “We want to be pro-active in tackling this issue because it has wider implications for insurance premiums and in attracting new blood to biking.”

2003/(02)	Top 10 highest risk areas
1.	WC – London West Central
2.	EC – London East Central
3.	E – London East
4.	W – London West
5.	NW – London North West
6.	N – London North
7.	SW – London South West
8.	SE – London South East
9.	WN - Wigan
10.	BD–- Bradford

2003/(02)	Top 10 highest risk areas
1.	WN – Wigan
2.	BD - Bradford
3.	DA - Dartford
4.	CR – Croydon
5.	S - Sheffield
6.	M - Manchester
7.	TW - Twickenham
8.	BR - Bromley
9.	TS – Teeside (M’boro’)
10.	OL - Oldham

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Carole Nash Motorcycle Theft Risk Survey 2003 analysed claims received between January 01 and December 31, 2002. The full theft league table by postcode area is available on request.

Please note this release is being issued to personal finance and motorcycling /motoring/feature editors.