Last updated at 16:52, Wednesday, 13 February 2013

THIS is the huge haul of stolen or lost push bikes that police have recovered from across the Barrow borough.

COLLECTION Sergeant John McIntosh at Barrow Police Station with part of the recovered cycle collection

Bike theft has been one of the biggest issues facing the force in South Cumbria over recent years.

Police have retrieved around 40 bikes from Barrow, Dalton and Askam in the past four to five months.

The collection features a wide spectrum of models, which vary in size, value and age. They have been gathered in a variety of ways, with some found and others seized.

In a bid to reunite victims of bike theft with their property, police have organised a special drop-in event at Barrow police station in Market Street.

People are invited to go to the backyard of the station on Saturday February 23 between 10am and 4pm with their crime or lost property number.

Figures show that 1,041 bikes were stolen in Barrow, Ulverston and Millom in the past five years.

Sergeant John McIntosh said bike thefts were reducing in number thanks to a concerted police effort to tackle the issue. He appealed for anyone who has fallen victim to a bike theft to attend the event.

Those not claimed will be donated to charity.

Sgt McIntosh said: “It’s decreasing rapidly (as a problem) because we’ve hit it so hard. But it’s clear, with all these bikes we’ve recovered, there are losers [of bikes] out there and we want to reunite them. There will be owners for these bikes somewhere and we hope to return them to as many people as we can.”

First published at 16:28, Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk