Just 30 minutes to steal a bike in Central London

More than 70 bicycles are stolen in London every day with official figures showing a 30 per cent rise and a doubling of thefts in almost four years.

In the financial year 2005-06, a total of 21,236 bicycles were reported stolen, the highest figure in recent years.

But with an average of 74 stolen a day the annual total is projected to rise to more than 27,000.

The Evening Standard decided to test how long it would take for one bicycle to go missing from a London street.

We bought a man's black Carrera Subway 1, a seven-speed gear bike with a sturdy lightweight frame, popular with city commuters, for £100 from a dealer in Kensington High Street.

On Saturday afternoon at 4pm the bicycle was locked to some empty racks outside Kentish Town West station, using a cable lock.

Most passers-by walked straight past without noticing it.

After 10 minutes, a couple of men in their twenties saunteredpast, glanced at it and continued walking.

They returned a minute later but did not hang around.

Five minutes later, a boy in a hooded raincoat and with a West Highland White terrier went past the bicycle, walking away from Kentish Town.

After noticing it, he stopped, turned around, and headed back in the direction he came from.

A few minutes later he returned and left again. He did this a number of times before scanning the area to see if anybody was watching.

Then he walked up to the bicycle with his back towards any potential onlookers.

He removed something from his pocket and bent over the bicycle.

In less than a minute the lock had been removed and the boy was casually wheeling it towards the neighbouring park.

It was 4.30pm, half an hour after it had been locked up.

When confronted, the boy said he had taken the bicycle because he thought its owner had dumped it.

Without any further explanation, he willingly handed it back.

Police attribute the rise in bicycle thefts mainly on the increasing popularity of cycling, as well as the use of more expensive machines, which are often stolen for sale at markets, car boot sales or on auction websites such as eBay.

Transport for London says the number of cycle journeys has increased by 70 per cent in the past six years to 450,000 a day.

Cycling groups believe the majority of thefts are not reported and estimate that as many as 80,000 bicycles are taken every year with fewer than five per cent returned.

Graham Tope, Liberal Democrat policing spokesman on the London Assembly, said: "Many bikes are left unattended or unlocked but this is not helped by the Met failing to take bike theft more seriously.

We need to see better-targeted investment in cycling facilities, including secure racks in well-lit areas, educational packages and an integrated cycle network."

Road safety campaigner and London Assembly Green member Jenny Jones said: "The more cyclists we get the more this is going to happen unless the police start taking it seriously.

Car crime is high up their agenda but bike crime does not seem to register at all.

Some bikes are probably more expensive than some cars."

Islington recorded the highest number of thefts in 2005-6 (1,821) followed by Camden (1,521) and Westminster(1,453).

Detective Superintendent Martin Rusling said high rates in boroughs such as Islington and Camden were partly due to the number of colleges and university teaching hospitals.

He said: "We get a lot of reports of stolen bikes which are recovered very quickly. They tend to get ridden from one side of the campus to the other."

He advised registering bicycles with immobilise.com