This is a trade facing website. Visit the ACT's consumer site thecyclingexperts.co.uk for information and advice on cycling and find your local independent cycle retailer.

Search News

Results: 1-10 of 900


25 Jun 2025

The E-Bike Positive campaign has seen major success in the first half of 2025, with its message reaching nearly 8 million people across the UK through high-profile media coverage and growing...

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on...

20 Jun 2025

Activate Cycle Academy has reopened its Cytech training facility in Darlington, offering a full range of courses from Home Mechanic up to Cytech Technical Three.
 

18 Jun 2025

The Association of Cycle Traders believes the time has come for greater accountability throughout our supply chain, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.

16 Jun 2025

The ACT has welcomed the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking's report "Unregulated and Unsafe: The Threat of Illegal E-Bikes", which calls for urgent Government action to...

11 Jun 2025

A new academic study has found that overzealous pro-cycling campaigners on social media may be inadvertently damaging the case for better cycling infrastructure across the UK.

11 Jun 2025

Bira has welcomed the Welsh Government's consultation on business rate reforms for retail shops, whilst calling for significant improvements to ensure the proposals truly support high street...

10 Jun 2025

Bike thefts across England and Wales have continued their steady decline, according to new data released by cycle insurance specialist Bikmo.

9 Jun 2025

Retailers on Britain's high streets are being encouraged to put themselves forward for the first-ever Love Your High Street Awards, designed to celebrate the small businesses that bring...

9 Jun 2025

 To coincide with Bike Week (9-15 June) – the UK’s annual celebration of cycling – new research has revealed a clear shift amongst Gen Z and Millennials in their approach...

Back to news menu

Bike shop owner slams police’s “abject apathy” after three shops broken into in one night

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

A cycle shop owner has criticised the police’s “abject apathy” towards bike theft after thieves attempted to break into his store for the second time in a year, on the same night two other bike shops and a private residence were also targeted.

police car

In one night, at least 17 bikes and other items were stolen during the series of raids which took place across Sussex.

At the Giant store in Shoreham, six men in balaclavas were spotted by local residents – who took videos of the burglary – breaking into the shop and stealing 14 high-end e-mountain bikes.

A private home was also burgled, with the thieves making off with, among other things, two Kinesis bikes and a Canyon gravel bike.

The thieves were thwarted, however, while trying to access South Downs Bikes, when a neighbour disturbed them interfering with the shop’s front door lock, causing them to scarper in a black BMW.

The failed Saturday raid is the second time in a year that South Downs Bikes has been the subject of a break-in, after three e-bikes were taken when a thief broke the shop’s office window with a brick.

And after none of the perpetrators were found in the wake of the first burglary, the Storrington shop’s director, Martin Richardson, isn’t convinced of Sussex Police’s ability to deal with what he refers to as a bike shop break-in “epidemic”.

 “It seems like it’s spreading from one shop to the next. It’s like an epidemic,” Richardson told road.cc.

“We had a break-in about 12 months ago. A guy chucked a brick through the office window and stole three e-bikes. They put them in their van and realised that the bikes from an earlier break-in weren’t of the same quality as ours, so they dumped the seven bikes in one of our neighbours’ gardens!”

Referring to Saturday’s spate of break-ins, the South Downs Bikes director said: “I was speaking to the manager of the Giant shop in Shoreham, and residents took videos of these six guys in balaclavas, entering and exiting the shop with multiple e-bikes.

“We were able to capture an image of the one of the individuals who drove up in a black BMW and disabled the CCTV at the front of the shop externally. And we watched him on the CCTV take a little tool out of his pocket and get the lock off the door in a matter of 30 seconds!

“When we were broken into last time, the police officers eventually turned up and said ‘right, we’ve made a note of this, we’ll send you a crime number by email, and that’s the last you’ll see of us’. And we never heard anything whatsoever. They don’t give a damn, do they?”

“This time, I’ve only been talking to the Sussex Police by email. The response, as usual, is lukewarm. I obviously contacted them initially on their 101 and have now received the perfunctory crime number relating to the attempted break-in.

“I get the impression that provided you get a crime number and contact your insurance company, that’s the end of the matter as far as our wonderful police force is concerned. That’s why we securitise ourselves in such a way, because the police aren’t going to do anything. Abject apathy comes to mind.”

Back to news menu

Useful links

If you have any other queries please contact us.