Backpedal Reviews

The UK-based startup offers e-bike owners a monthly subscription service, which includes recovery of the e-bike and, more recently, insurance via Sundays Insurance, one of the largest cycle insurers in the UK. BackPedal says it has a 90% recovery rate, but the insurance provides a security net for the bikes that can’t be brought back.

Analysing police data, Dispatches reveals local hotspots where 100% of neighbourhood crimes go unsolved. The team watch a theft in action and go on the trail of the criminals.

Last year, a YouGov survey found that more than three quarters of British people don’t expect the police to bother investigating bike thefts. 84% of those surveyed also believe that it is unlikely that bike thieves will be caught and convicted, with over half claiming that it is “not likely at all” that criminals stealing bicycles will be found guilty in court.

Bike theft is rife, and yet, it doesn't seem like much is being done about it. An increasingly overstretched policing service, combined with emboldened criminals, has resulted in a slew of horror stories. It is not a victimless crime; a bike could be someone's only means of transport, or it could be their prized possession, the most expensive thing they own.