Cheltenham Borough Councillor Max Wilkinson had his bicycle stolen during a meeting at the Municipal building in Cheltenham last night.
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate Mr. Wilkinson, a cycling champion, is not the first political figure in Gloucestershire to have their bike stolen, with Conservative MP for Gloucester Richard Graham also a victim of a chain of bike thefts.
My orange bike has been stolen from the bike racks next to the war memorial on the Prom. They cut through my lock sometime between 5.55 and 6.45 today. Please let me know if you see it. pic.twitter.com/r7iNFd7IAL
— Max Wilkinson (@mpmwilko) 6 December 2017
According to plumplot.com, bicycle theft makes up 1.4% of all crime in the area. Gloucestershire ranks 55th out of 104 crime areas across England & Wales. The figures take into account the amount of crimes per 1000 people per year.
Nationally, the GL50 area is 404% above the national average for bicycle theft, but has decreased overall by 6.7% in the last year.
Mr. Wilkinson said, “We want to promote using bicycles to dissolve the problem of congestion, particularly in town centres.
“Therefore the problem with not having safe parking for bicycles in town is a serious one.”