A bicycle worth nearly £1,000 has been stolen from Chalfont & Latimer Train Station.
In the week commencing Monday, July 8, IT engineer Raveendra Konda parked his expensive bike in the rack as he had for the past two-and-a-half years.
However, upon returning from work in London, he was shocked to discover that the vehicle had been taken.
Prices for the bike, which is a TREK FX3, can range between £400 to £1,050.
He told the Free Press: “Every day I go to London by the tube, and I park my bicycle in the morning at about 6am and will ride home to Amersham at about 6pm.
(Image: Raveendra Konda)
“That's why I use a bicycle – it was for commuting from station to station.
“I went to where the bikes were kept and it was not there. “
“I searched for the station master but I couldn’t find anyone to complain to.
“Then immediately I tried to in the same place.
“I tried to call the police for non-emergency cases, but, I tried for almost 30 minutes and no one answered.”
The statistics for bike thefts is not pretty read for those who regularly cycle.
According to www.thebestbikelock.com, there were 77,146 stolen bicycles across England and Wales between 2022/23.
This is an average of one bike being stolen every seven minutes.
The bike was taken from a rack at Chalfont & Latimer Station (Image: Raveendra Konda)
In addition to this, around 90 per cent of cases end without a suspect being identified.
Raveendra continued: “I tried calling the police again and when they took my complaint, they confirmed they would not investigate, and I need to check with the train station as they said the station guys would be the only ones who would help.
“So now I know the police would not help me further.
“They will not investigate my case, so today [July 10], I tried to find the station master but there is no one who I can speak to give them my complaint.”
The theft has left Raveendra to walk from the station in Little Chalfont back to his home in Amersham, which is roughly one hour on foot.
And he doesn’t hold too much hope in being reunited with his bike in the near future.
He concluded: “From my home to the train station will take almost 25 minutes [on the bike], every day.
“I used to go to the office and I start from my home at 5:30 or 5:50 but it’s too early so that's why I go to cycle.
“And I think there are no clues to find out my bike as I’m still not able to find the right channel to start the investigation, as I was gone for 12 hours, but I can only get two hours of video recordings [CCTV].
“This is what happened.”
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