Moment motorbike thieves are caught in the act as alert photographer spots them eyeing up another bike to steal
- Brazen thieves were spotted robbing motorcycles in London in broad daylight
This is the moment a brave photographer managed to snap thieves in the act of robbing motorcycles worth tens of thousands of pounds in a posh area of London.
In an act of daylight theft, the brazen thugs were spotted driving up and down a road on the corner of Chelsea Green on a scooter at around 5pm yesterday.
They were driving a Honda ADV 350 with the number plates removed while wearing helmets and balaclavas to obscure their identity.
With his suspicions raised, Oliver Quartly – the fearless photographer who snapped machete-wielding gangs in Notting Hill Carnival this summer – began to observe what was going on.
Speaking to Mail Online, he said: ‘They were scouting the area for motorbikes.
The thieves pointed at the photographer, threatening that they ‘knew who he was’ and they would come back for him
The thieves were spotted driving up and down the road to look out for other motorcycles to nick
‘They disappeared for about five minutes and then came flying down.
‘One was on a scooter and the other was on a Harley Davidson with the alarm blaring and then drove away.
‘About half an hour later, they came back on one scooter again looking at motorbikes parked in the area.’
But the thieves noticed Mr Quartly’s curiosity and began circling around him and his friend.
‘They noticed we were looking at them and they started pointing and just circled around us, wondering what we were doing.
‘There was a motorbike further up the road and they were looking at that.
‘One got off and they tried to break the lock. So I went up the road and banged on the window of a shop because I knew a guy who worked there and I told him that his bike was getting nicked.’
At that point, the shop employee came outside and shouted at the thieves. Mr Quartly took some photographs of the crooks.
Oliver Quartly, pictured, said he is a motorcycle owner himself and has had two stolen in the past
Mr Quartly snapped this shocking photo that shows the moment a young man waves around a machete at Notting Hill carnival
This attracted the attention of people in the area who began looking at what was happening.
The photographer continued: ‘They started pointing at me an threatening me saying “we know who you are” and calling me a “snitch” and that that “we’re going to come back for you”.’
But fortunately, the thieves didn’t come back.
Mr Quartly is also a motorcycle owner himself and he said he has had two bikes stolen in the past.
‘You can’t leave anything of value on the side of the road because it will get stolen,’ he added, ‘you see videos of people with angle grinders going through locks.
‘But the police don’t do anything. When I had my bike stolen, twice, the police literally said to me to go look for it.
‘Luckily, I found it. Thieves drop it around the corner to see if it has a tracker on it.
‘If it’s still there within a week’s time then they know it doesn’t have a tracker and they take it to their shop or garage lockup.’
In 2022, head of the Police Foundation Rick Muir warned that the low charge rate of vehicle thefts ‘effectively decriminalised’ the offence.
Figures show that there were 99,541 car thefts reported to police in 2020-21.
In London, almost 30,000 cars were stolen in 2021 but the Metropolitan Police were only able to charge culprits in connection with 737 offences – a rate of just 2.5 per cent.
Britain is also facing an epidemic of shoplifting which has been labelled as ‘decriminalised’ by Asda chairman Lord Stuart Rose.
Some of it is fuelled by gang activity as well as the cost of living crisis.
Mr Quartly was able to get a photograph of gangs at this year’s Notting Hill carnival brandishing enormous knives to fight each other.
The photographer said he found himself ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’ and claimed the ‘joyful atmosphere turned unexpectedly as an altercation broke out nearby, between two gangs with knives and a machete’.
Mail Online contacted the Met Police for comment.
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