UK motorcycle theft report OCTOBER: Crime trends & arrest stories

Seeing how criminal gangs move their operations around the UK can help motorcyclists realise the importance of locking their bikes, and be more prepared when thefts rise in their area.

This map shows the increases and decreases of motorcycle and scooter thefts by comparing the last full month’s data with the month before that. Remember – this is a MONTHLY overview.

Open the tab below the map to show the data in full, as the colours represent the CHANGE to theft rates reported by each Police force, not the quantity.

This month's theft stats explained

This month sees the largest amount of green on the Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) theft stats map since we started sharing it. These reductions in thefts month-on-month cover a wide area of the UK, and are indicative of the fact that motorcycle theft rates have been declining.

Sadly that’s not to say that criminality as a whole is reducing – anyone running their own business will likely be well-aware of the significant increase in the theft from, and of vans. High value car-crime is also distracting many former motorcycle thieves, but it is of course still a major problem that Police forces with limited resource are doing their best to tackle.

Theft has dropped off entirely or seen very significant reduction in some areas of Wales and Scotland, and other forces around the country have slashed the numbers of bikes being stolen.

Due in part to the huge numbers of scooters in London, the Metropolitan Police area remains the hardest hit with 441 PTWs taken in September, but that’s still a 20.54% drop from last month.

Nottinghamshire Police saw a high-profile theft recently when Yogesh Alekari had his round-the-world motorcycle trip cut short due to his bike being stolen from Wollaton Park. He was able to continue thanks to the generosity of The Off Road Centre in Mansfield, and the news below shows that an arrest has already been made. Motorcycle theft has dropped slightly in Nottinghamshire, with the reports from the force shown below giving a snapshot of some of the successes offices have had.

If you want to discuss these figures, please join us at bikeclub.bennetts.co.uk

Clearly, some areas are seeing noticeable increases, with Cleveland suffering the biggest rise of 466.67%. A massive jump, but while just one theft is too many, the numbers here are still relatively low at 17%.

The point of this map is to show where criminal gangs are moving around the country, and to highlight the success stories listed below that often go unreported in the sludge of social media misery. It’s also worth mentioning that the UK is not the motorcycle theft capitol of the world that some seem to think – France is suffering more for instance, so do keep that in mind when riding in or through Europe.

Invest in the best security you can for you motorcycle or scooter, use it, then get on with enjoying your ride. You can find our independent reviews of the best locks, chains, ground anchors, disc locks and more here.

Total PTW thefts September 2025: 1596 (Down 345 from August)

Top story: Arrest made after round-the-world motorcycle stolen

Nottinghamshire Police: Police investigating the theft of a motorbike taken midway through a round-the-world trip have arrested a suspect.

The motorcyclist was 15,000 miles and nearly four months into his journey when his bike was stolen in Nottingham.

After parking up at Wollaton Hall, the rider went for some breakfast before returning to find his motorbike had been taken.

In addition to losing his motorcycle, the Indian national had the luggage attached to it – which included his passport – stolen too.

The theft was reported around 11am on 28 August, with different Nottinghamshire Police teams conducting extensive inquiries since then.

These have included analysing available CCTV footage, interviewing witnesses, and conducting searches – both in the community and online.

A public appeal was also released to assist the investigation, with information generated from that helping to identify a suspect.

Based on this, police were led to an address in Doncaster yesterday (8 September), where they located and detained an individual.

The 18-year-old man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle and other offences.

Sergeant Daniel Sheasby, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Our policing teams have been conducting extensive inquiries since this theft was first reported to us.

“We know, having spoken to the victim of this offence and hearing about his journey, how much the theft of his motorbike has impacted him.

“This is still very much an active investigation, so we’d again appeal to anyone who knows anything but hasn’t shared it with us yet to please do so now.

“Vehicle theft is a serious offence, so we’re determined to track down anyone involved.”

Information can be shared with the police by calling 101, quoting incident 213 of 28 August 2025, while Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.

More motorcycle crime news

Motorcycle crime news you might have missed

Our data shows that using even a basic disc lock can reduce the chances of your motorcycle being stolen by a factor of three, and using heavy-duty security at home can make it less likely to be stolen than the average car.

High-value car crime has the attention of thieves, but while the odds are that you WON'T have your bike stolen, crime has and always will be a sad part of life. By taking some simple extra steps to secure your motorbike, you can make yourself far less likely to fall victim. Check out our regularly updated and totally unbiased guide to the best motorcycle locks here.

You’ll find the previous months’ maps at the bottom of this page, which will help to see how the gangs move around. The figures are obtained from the Police National Computer, and while there will be small discrepancies due to recorded times and other factors, the data gives a clear indication of where crime is at its worst during different times of the year. Please do need to keep in mind that an improving region could still have relatively high rates of theft. Equally, a region that's suffering might be coming from a low base.

Accessing this data costs, so it’s thanks to the support of the two leading motorcycle tracking companies – BikeTrac and Datatool – that we’re able to bring you it.

In order to maintain our editorial independence, we asked these both of these two competitors if they’d like to support it together, and they jumped at it. Professionally monitored trackers can give the fastest possible alert of a theft, which can result in the safe recovery of your motorcycle extremely quickly.

The excellent relationships with Police forces around the UK that BikeTrac and Datatool have can result in action being taken quickly as officers aim not just to secure the stolen bike, but also potentially perform an arrest.

If speed of response and location accuracy are important to you, a monitored tracker can offer the best chance of getting your bike back quickly and with the minimum of damage.

Previous theft data

Over the coming months we’ll add the previous maps here, so you can quickly and easily see how the patterns of crime move around the country at different times of the year.

Why is Scotland's data not broken down to all regions?

Since 1 April 2013, Police Scotland has been responsible for policing across the whole of Scotland, covering 28,168 square miles. It's a third of the UK's landmass, though is home to around 5.5 million people, compared with 8.9 million in London .

The most granular detail readily available (without wasting the Police's time with freedom of information requests that would be out of date by the time responses were received) is the quarterly management reports downloadable from Police Scotland, however, these still don't provide us with the information that would allow us to separate PTWs thefts by council area.

Northern Ireland's data is reported as a group too, being covered by PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland), and with a total population of 1.9 million.

We've now got some extra data in our Scotland reporting, which is helping to see some of the hot-spots.

If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at the Bennetts BikeSocial Facebook page and be sure to sign up to our exclusive motorcycle forum, BikeClub.