Light-fingered London? On yer bike

Bicycle theft is a growing problem in London, Metropolitan police figures show today.

About 80,000 bikes, equivalent to nine an hour, are stolen across the capital each year. The number of reported thefts has jumped by 34 per cent in the past three years.

Police say this is only the tip of the iceberg, with an estimated three-quarters of bike thefts going unreported.

But when the Evening Standard conducted its own tests by leaving unpadlocked bikes unattended for up to two hours at four locations, the results were a revelation.

Londoners - the ones out and about during our test, at any rate - are honest, it seems. Nobody appeared

remotely interested in stealing our bikes.

Covent Garden: Our four-yearold Raleigh ladies' Zest model, worth ?130 new, was left in Russell Street at 3pm. The bike was left outside a bar for two hours and failed to attract any attention. On to the busy nearby shopping area of Neal Street, where the Raleigh was left on its side in the middle of the pavement near a cycle rack.

One passer-by tripped over a tyre and finally a concerned Big Issue seller took a long look, picked up the bike and wheeled it over to the rack. Euston: The bike was left against railings outside a chip shop in Euston Road. An hour passed with no interest. King's Cross: Again the unlocked bike was ignored outside King's Cross station. After 45 minutes a rail guard picked it up and took it to lost property where we retrieved it 20 minutes later.

Elephant and Castle: We decided to try new bait. A 21-gear men's Trek 800 sport mountain bike - worth about ?200 new, although ours was second-hand - was propped up near railings at the Elephant and Castle roundabout. In two hours, it drew hardly a glance.

Despite our findings, the 23 per cent surge in the popularity of cycling this year has provided more opportunities for theft, and many stolen bikes are quickly traded at street markets or taken to pieces and the parts sold. The worst affected borough is Islington, which has seen bike thefts more than double from 829 in 2001/02 to 1,898 last year.

Andrew Cornwell, of Islington Cyclists Action Group, claimed many stolen bikes are sold at Brick Lane and Chapel markets.

"We have had reports of white vans at the markets containing large numbers of bikes, which suggests it is organised crime," he said.

Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Camden each recorded more than 1,000 thefts in the past year. Mayor Ken Livingstone's London Cycling Action Plan aims to treble bicycle use but the London Cycling Campaign warns that theft is putting people off, with many who have a new bike stolen never replacing it.