The Times this morning reports a disconcerting new wave of crime that is directed at commuter cyclists.

In the past two months, muggers in North and East London, Cambridge and Bristol have realised that many bike commuters carry valuables in easily grabbed panniers and rack bags. A small number of gangs have been riding two up on stolen mopeds to snatch bags from riders – usually targeting women.

One female victim, Claire Wilton, was recently attacked in North London and told the Times:
“Two youths zoomed up alongside me on a moped and, while we were both moving, the passenger reached over and snatched my pannier. I had considered myself safer on a bike because I was moving quickly but these youths have found a way of attacking us. They have worked out that people commuting to work are likely to be carrying valuables.”

Although most attacks are being made on women, men have also had bags snatched.
The frequency of the attacks is also alarming, one police officer told the Times that they’d had up to 15 attacks reported in a single day in one North London area. Luckily nobody has yet been seriously hurt in any of the incidents.

What makes the thieves particularly difficult to deal with is that moped manoeuvrability means they are extremely hard to catch and crash helmets make them generally unidentifiable. But the Police claim they have the situation ‘under control’ and are proposing plain-clothes decoys to catch the muggers.

However, officers are still warning that commuters should not cycle alone and have asked cycling associations to spread the word. Police have also warned against cyclists forming vigilante groups to patrol cycle routes, saying that if this were to happen the muggers would only return in greater numbers and with weapons.

Although the new phenomenon simply means cyclists have now entered the long list of muggers’ prey -from which they were previously saved by their speed- the London Cycling Campaign is rightly worried about the effect these attacks might have on commuter numbers. London already holds enough worries for cyclists without them becoming a target for a new crime wave.

So, as they say on Crimewatch; “be careful out there”.