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Bike Insurance -
Of Bike Theft in London and Elsewhere
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A few weeks ago, in a survey by Endsleigh Insurance, London was rated second only to Nottingham in terms of risk for household theft. The survey, as alarming as it was, suggested the level of insecurity our properties face in the capital city and the need for households to do more to safeguard their possession, in addition to home insurance.
Another research by Saga Home Insurance drew our attention to the threats of burglary that would increase as the clock moves forward, from Greenwich Meantime (GMT) to British Summer Time (BST).
While we pondered all this and worked out the best possible outlets from the likely problems that would follow, we were yet told of another threat to our precious possessions. But this time around the worry is on our bikes.
The survey by Carole Nash found that of the 117 postcodes that featured North West London was the riskiest for bike theft. It specifically suggested people living in the area are five times more likely to have their bikes taken away by thieves than in other places.
The study by UK’s biggest motorcycle insurance specialist had scrutinised claims from its nearly a quarter of a million bike insurance policyholders so as to find out the hotspots for theft in the country. And there was London, once against, put in the spotlight.
London is not as bad as these studies indicate. The only trouble, however, is that things have terribly changed and people have become less of each other’s keeper. Once upon a time everywhere was so safe that one never imagined that there would be people waiting on you to be slightly carefree with your stuff so they take advantage of it. And the kind of bike theft we are talking about here is not just any bike but very expensive ones. Carole Nash’s director of operation, Dave Bowcock said these bikes could be worth more than a small car that costs about £10,000. Mr Bowcock also noted that Londoners have had to put up with this unacceptable theft of bikes for quite a while, as the study each year suggests.
One thing that contributes in worsening this issue, according to him, is the absence of sufficient places to park motorbike across the country. This explains why London is not alone in this matter.
Liverpool came second to London in the poll, where bikers are twice as likely to have their bikes stolen as the average biker in the UK. Preston was also rated as a high risk area. But London postcodes, according to the study, appeared in eight out of the 10 highest risk areas that were featured.
Corresponding to the findings of the study, bike insurance premiums of high risk areas like London, Liverpool and Preston tend to be higher than the premiums of bikers in low risk places like Hereford, which was found to be the least in the risk hierarchy.
In Scotland, Carole Nash also found Edinburgh to be the worst place for motorbike theft. But the city was rated ninth highest in the UK.
One trend that is very common about the whole survey is that, irrespective of the rating each place had, the security situation of our possessions, not just bikes, needs to be beefed up. We may not entirely place the responsibility on someone else’s shoulder. But we do need to play our role to run thieves out of business.
Given its role in helping to reduce traffic congestion in places like London and in promoting a greener environment, biking deserves more encouragement from us all.
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