A bicycle recovery company is using former security guards to go out onto the streets and retrieve bikes from thieves amid a lack of police action.
BackPedal uses sophisticated GPS trackers and Bluetooth beacons, alongside specialist recovery agents and “spotters”, to track down stolen bikes, retrieve them, and return them to their owners.
The company was set up by James Dunn and Richard White after Mr Dunn’s girlfriend’s bike was stolen and he became frustrated by the slow police response.
The pair said they had an 80 per cent recovery rate and generally retrieved around a bike a day. At the moment, they have just under 1,000 customers.
The business started out focusing on London but the company believes it can, with the correct resources, “smash the bike theft epidemic in cities across the UK”.
Mr White said: “The whole bike theft issue has led to a lot of victim blaming. You report a bike theft and get asked ‘where was it left?’
“You say you left it outside a pub and the response is ‘oh well, what do you expect?”
Credit: backpedal.co
The number of bike thefts recorded by police has declined from a peak of 113,000 in 2005 to 65,500 in the past year.
However, data suggest this could be linked to fewer thefts being reported. Between half and 70 per cent of victims of bicycle thefts say they do not report the crime to police.
In 2024 Home Office data revealed that more than 365,000 bike thefts reported to police had gone unsolved since 2019, accounting for 89 per cent of all cases.
This adds up to 200 bike thefts a day – more than eight an hour – going unsolved in England and Wales over the past four years.
Of the 365,706 thefts, just 8,437 (two per cent) resulted in an arrest and charge in the year to June 2023.
BackPedal customers register their bike, pay a monthly fee, and in return company mechanics install an inconspicuous tracker and Bluetooth beacon.
If the bike is stolen, they can call a 24/7 recovery line and an agent will be sent to recover the bike.
The Bluetooth beacons then allow agents to accurately locate the bike.
This tool is particularly helpful if the stolen bike is located within a block of flats, for example.
Bilal Ali, 25, a former security guard, has been working as a recovery agent for the company for the last six months.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “For me, I always view calling the police as the last resort.
“If we are lucky enough for them to attend, people can become more defensive and claim that they purchased the bike and didn’t know it was stolen.”
Mr Ali said in his experience, the police would often side with the thief, rather than him, and the theft would remain unresolved.
He said that he initially began working as a spotter for BackPedal. Spotters are required to locate the bike and, if possible, make a visual confirmation before recovery agents are called to retrieve it.
Mr Ali said he had recovered almost 100 bikes, including one that had been taken from London to Norwich.
Credit: backpedal.co
“It’s a good job. You feel a sense of accomplishment, like you’re doing something positive in the world,” he said.
Mr Ali, who is a heavily built 6ft 1in, said that while his imposing physique helped him with recoveries, it was his demeanour with thieves that was the key to retrieving bikes.
“Once you have located the bike, you can’t just go up to them and accuse them of being a thief,” he said.
“You have to give them the benefit of the doubt and usually, when you do, they play along with it as well and claim they had no idea it was stolen, and they bought it from a mate or something.
“I play along as well and I say, well unfortunately this bike is stolen and you are harbouring stolen goods.
“Whenever I mention those magical words, harbouring stolen goods, they tend to hand it over”.
As well as former security guards, BackPedal is increasingly working with former police officers and training them to be recovery agents.
Mr White said they had recently taken on an ex-Metropolitan police officer with 30 years experience.
BackPedal works for both individuals and fleet companies who hire out electric bikes to delivery drivers.