Calls for secure bike storage in Windsor as police say theft levels are 'abnormally high'

A worried mother who was a victim of bike theft said her daughter has been left ‘traumatised’ after the incident.

The latest Thames Valley Police (TVP) crime update lists seven bikes which were stolen from Windsor between November 21-26.

Six of these thefts took place in central Windsor.

Georgina Heath-Davey stopped for a break at a coffee shop in Windsor after a bike ride from Bray, where she lives, with her two children on Sunday.

She said she had an ‘awful inkling’ that something was going to happen to the bikes she’d locked up in William Street.

Her bike, which she had got for her birthday two weeks earlier, and her 10-year-old son’s bike, which was about a month old, were taken in a ‘three to four minute window’.

Her eight-year-old daughter’s bike which was a few years old was left on the side of the road.

The 42-year-old said she does not have ‘any hope’ she will get the bikes back, which cost between £200-400 each.

“I’ve done everything I can,” she said. “I’d love to see some secure cages in Windsor to lock bikes up.

“The two things that worry me is that someone is walking around Windsor with huge bolt cutters and that, speaking to friends, many of them have had bikes stolen in Windsor too.”

She said the incident has left her unwilling to buy a new bike and her daughter has been left shaken by the incident.

“She has nightmares that baddies are coming to get her,” added the worried mum. “She’s been so upset and traumatised by it.”

Cllr Malcolm Alexander (Con, Eton and Castle) is particularly concerned with the prevalence of bike thefts in the town.

He said Eton Town Council has been looking into installing a secure storage area for bikes and is assessing suitable places for it to be.

Once the council has a firm plan, it could be rolled out to central Windsor where the majority of thefts are taking place.

At the end of October, TVP said bike thefts ‘continue to be abnormally high in the Royal Borough’.