As regular readers will know, Cycle Winchester has been closely monitoring the disturbing levels of bike theft in the city, and intervening to try and improve the situation in theft hotspots, notably at the railway station. The latest statistics, showing a reduction in thefts during 2023, provide a crumb of comfort, but overall the situation is far from happy.
The relatively good news is that there has been approximately a 40% reduction in thefts in Winchester (104 in 2023 vs 170 in 2022) however this is still two per week. Nationally bike theft fell by 10%; in Hampshire Police area it fell by a third in 2023 (19,173 cases in 2023 vs 28,821 in 2022).
Thefts from the station have dropped from 59 to 33. One in three bikes stolen in Winchester was taken from the station.
The graphs below show the monthly total figures for reported bike theft in Winchester (these include thefts from the station); also shown are figures recorded by British Transport Police for just those bikes taken from the station during 2022 and 2023.
The map below shows the locations where bikes were stolen in 2023. The hotspots are the Station, City Centre, the Hospital and WSLC/Bar End. [Link to a live map with locations of individual thefts].
Background to the figures
The National bike theft rate is 1.2 per 1,000 population. Hampshire it is 1.0 per 1,000. Based on a Winchester population of 50,000 the expected number of thefts would be 50; the actual figure is twice that. It might be expected that cities will have a higher rate than, say, more rural areas.
Nationally, in more than 88% of recorded cases of bike theft, no suspect was identified. In Hampshire it is 93.8%, the lowest rate of identifying suspects amongst police forces in England and Wales (a deteriorating picture; Hampshire was 3rd worst in 2022). Hampshire also has the 3rd lowest rate of suspects being charged. With this policing performance it is perhaps surprising we don’t have an even higher theft rate. Does the current theft rate justify the apparently low level of police activity?
It is thought that more than 50% of bike thefts are not reported.
Meanwhile no progress at the Railway station
The number of bike thefts at Winchester railway station has dropped from 2.38 to 1.11 per 100,000 passengers. For comparison the theft rate at Southampton station has dropped from 0.85 to 0.72 per 100,000 passengers. These figures are impacted both by the number of total journeys and proportion of bikes used; we don’t know how many bikes are being used at either station.
We have now passed the first anniversary of the trees and bike racks at the front of the station being fenced off. In the middle of last summer the few temporary stands were removed (due to Boomtown) and then took months to reappear – but at least when they did there were more of them. More stands will be needed this summer as they were looking well used on a recent visit.
South Western Railway generally don’t answer our emails so we don’t really know what is going on. But we think there is agreement that the paving issues caused by the trees can be remedied.
It is noticeable that (wisely) most bikes are now parked at the front of the station and there are more D-locks in use. The secure compound remains largely unused and the Bike Hub avoided by most. As far as we can tell there has been no action by SWR, although increased police activity has been mentioned elsewhere.
The reduction in theft at the station is probably more due to the general drop seen in the city and Hampshire rather than any specific action at the station.
Cycle Winchester will continue to try to get SWR to take some interest in addressing the theft rate as it is still the number one hotspot to have a bike stolen in Winchester.
We are waiting to hear if we have been successful in bidding for funding from SWR’s Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) to provide optional secure parking at the station based on the Spokesafe system. The CCIF is South Western Railway’s programme to support projects that have a community benefit or address an area of social need across their network.
Please get in touch if you have any information or ideas to get action from SWR.
References and further reading
British Transport Police crime map for Winchester.