There has been a spike in bike thefts from the railway station in recent weeks. These have mainly been from the covered racks in the rear car park also known as the “Hub”. Possibly as many as 7 were taken on one day. We have known for a while the covered bike racks in the Hub are targeted by thieves. SWR staff also know it is a hot spot.
The Police don’t, as a rule, investigate bike thefts or review CCTV recording even when asked. At times it has the characteristics of a undercover bike showroom for thieves with little chance of being caught. The CCTV warning signs might be more accurate if they said “We are probably NOT watching you”. Our advice is not to the use the Hub but if you must park there – take an old bike and use a D-Lock. The bike parking (as recommended by SWR customer relations) in the underground car park looks equally unsafe.
Parking in front of the station is probably safer, however this hasn’t been an option recently as the temporary racks have not been reinstated.
Our advice is that in this type of location a Gold rated lock or better is required; generally these will be D-locks. Read our bike security guidance for more information.
The theft rate at the station has been high for a while; so far our lobbying for improvements has not been productive. In the meantime please alert your friends and family to this issue.
If you have further information or experiences, please contact Cycle Winchester as it will help make our case. The rate of theft from the Winchester station is 2.5 times higher than that at Southampton Station with 46 bikes recorded as being taken in the last 12 months – the total could be twice this. Without a bike you can’t cycle to the station! We met with South Western Railways last year to discuss some easy improvements at the station, however this has not resulted in any proposals from SWR.
In the meantime we are waiting for the racks in front of the station to be reinstated – they are currently cordoned off due to broken paving. Safe cycling parking at Winchester Station clearly has a low priority.
Is this still a problem please? They are offering a key card for a £25 deposit for the bike cage. Are there still thefts from there?
Hi John,
Thefts across the city have fallen a bit, maybe due to the value of bikes falling after the Covid bump, maybe due to better enforcement, maybe due to better awareness among cyclists. We don’t get much response from SWR about our calls for improvement. Personal view is that the locked cage is the safest place to park, the problem has mainly been that SWR were reluctant to release more passes even though usage is very low. If you have the opportunity to get one, I’d take it. Make sure to use a really solid lock as well though.
Rob, Cycle Winchester
Hi John,
Unfortunately, yes. My bike got stolen from the same sheltered “gated” bike park which you can only be accessed with a key card. Mine was a brand new electric foldable bike, which I had used only for three weeks. But now its gone. I regret my decision. Moreover, station staff can do nothing about it. The cctv recordings are only with the British Transport Police, which will deny investigating your case or sharing the footages, considering its not a very serious crime. No one thinks about the lost bike and the money what it was worth of.
Mine was stolen today from the platform 2 side so called secure compound. No interest from BTP. Disgraceful!
Dennis, Meesha, I’m very sorry to hear about your recent thefts. Clearly my confidence in the so-called secure compound was misplaced. We’ll see if there is something we can do to challenge BTP.
Rob