By Community Correspondent Sarah Husselmann

Battersea Park is arguably one of London’s most beautiful and safest parks, it’s rare to hear of unpleasant incidents. However, where there are a large number of people relaxing at the weekend, there are opportunists.

On Sunday 13th September, thieves helped themselves to a number of bicycles from outside the children’s playground close to the Sun Gate entrance of the Park. The bicycles stolen include a red boy’s BMX bike and a girl’s bright pink bicycle with stabilisers and helmet.

Witnesses saw a group of three or four boys leave the park with the bicycles. It’s sad that those taking the bikes were not much older than those they were stealing from. A young, scared looking, boy is said to have struggled to carry the pink bicycle whilst trying to ride another and keep up with his accomplices.

I met a family whose bicycles were stolen, talking to staff at the bicycle hire depot – it was heart wrenching to hear their young boy (about ten years old) ask staff whether anyone had handed back his stolen bicycle.

In this case, the bicycles weren’t locked up but parents and children were just on the other side of the playground railings, within eyesight.

Transport for London report that 80,000 bicycles were stolen last year in Greater London. They offer advice for cyclists regarding ways to avoid theft: www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11688.aspx

It’s worth registering bicycles on www.immobilise.com , the UK National Property Registry; they say they help “UK police forces to identify the owner of lost and stolen goods thousands of times every day.”

Given the scale of the problem in London, there are also dedicated websites and blogs to post details of stolen bicycles. http://stolenbikelondon.blogspot.com is an example.

Problems with people selling stolen bikes on www.gumtree.com have lead to there being an equal number of ‘Bikes Stolen’ ads as there are ‘Bikes for Sale’.

At Battersea Park, it would be nice to think you don't need to lock children’s bikes but to prevent opportunists it’s obviously necessary. There are railings and bicycle stands outside the playground.

If you see anything suspicious or have any information regarding these recent thefts, contact the Park’s Police on 020 8871 7532.