MORE than 200 bicycles were stolen in the second half of last year, with Reading Station among most vulnerable areas.

The latest crime figures show 213 bike thefts in Reading town centre during the second half of the year which is an increase of 14per cent from the same period of 2018.

However, this is a significant drop from the 370 reported thefts in the latter half of 2017.

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The most recent statistics from the Home Office up to December 2019, show August 2019 had the highest number of thefts with a total of 50.

Although September and October were also high with 47 and 43 thefts respectively reported to police.

December saw a low of 20 bikes that were reported stolen.

Reading Railway Station proved to be the most vulnerable place for bikes with 27 thefts there across the six months. Other locations where bicycles were regularly stolen from were ‘On or near West Street’ with 19 reported and Vastern Road with 14 reported.

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Across the 213 reported thefts over six months, there are 20 investigations still underway and the status of 25 are unavailable.

Beyond that, two cases were unable to prosecute and two are awaiting a court outcome.

In the remaining 164 cases the police were unable to identify a suspect, therefore the investigations have been closed.