FOI 428126

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 428126

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 22nd August 2025.  Please find below the response to your request:

1 - How many bike thefts have been reported for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (to date)? Please provide the quantity per year. That’s each year running from January to December, if possible. If you work in financial year’s instead of calendar years, please indicate.

2 – How many of these stolen bikes have been recovered and returned to their owners? Please provide the response for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (to date)? Please provide the quantity per year. That’s each year running from January to December, if possible. If you work in financial year’s instead of calendar years, please indicate.

3 - How many arrests/convictions have there been relating to the stolen bikes? Please provide the response for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (to date)? Please provide the quantity per year. That’s each year running from January to December, if possible. If you work in financial year’s instead of calendar years, please indicate.

 Reply

Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.

 S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”.  For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

The information you have requested for question 2 is not available in a readily retrievable format.  In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually

In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice. 

However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for questions 1 and 3 as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests

Although there is and offence for bicycle theft a search has been carried out on the offence of robbery and burglary as a bike maybe stolen under this offence. This is reliant on a keyword search and due to the volume the records have not been individually checked hence the figures provided under those categories may not be accurate.

The requestor has not distinguished push-bikes from electric or hybrid bikes and therefore these will likely be included in the figures.