Police help hospital staff protect bicycles following thefts

Police have been helping hospital staff to protect their bikes after a number of thefts during the Covid pandemic.

Gloucester Neighbourhood Policing Team has been at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital during the past few weeks, to mark and register bicycles owned by NHS staff. 

A total of 80 bikes have been marked and a number of bike locks have been sold. Officers will continue to regularly attend Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for bike marking events.

From 23 March to 26 June this year, four bikes were taken from Gloucestershire Royal Hospital; the figure is identical to the same period in 2019.

Earlier this month, a 46-year-old man from Gloucester was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for stealing a nurse’s bike from Gloucestershire Royal Hospital during the Covid pandemic.

Sergeant Grant White said: "There have been a number of incidents of bikes being stolen from Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital during the height of Coronavirus and the lockdown.

"It is shocking that, at a time like this, criminals have been targeting our hospital workers.

"Since those incidents at the hospital, Josh Griffiths, our PCSO who is linked to the hospital, has been doing a lot of work around security to ensure that NHS staff can feel confident that their belongings are safe."

Overall, bicycle thefts in Gloucester has gone done year on year with 32 reported across the city between 23 March and 4 June this year, compared with 73 in 2019 and 77 in 2018.