UK motorcycle theft report AUGUST: 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

Great work from West Midlands Police – a tough area for Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) thefts – with work by officers resuling in a 12% drop. The biggest reduction in thefts though was in Northern Ireland at 88%, going from eight thefts to one. That’s particularly good news after the spike seen there last month.

North Yorkshire was close behind, halving thefts to eight in July compared to June, with Warwickshire, Hampshire, Strathclyde, and Staffordshire also saw particularly notable decreases.

Remember, these stats help us all to understand where crime in on the increase, giving a valuable insight into where gangs are potentially focussing.

Despite some incredible work by the Metropolitan Police’s vehicle crime team, the Met – which due to being the most population and PTW dense area in the UK always has the highest figures – saw an increase of 3% to 618 thefts. The bulk of these are scooters, many of which are still left unsecured. Locking your bike up really does make it less likely to be stolen, so check out our guide to the best motorcycle and scooter security here.

Central Scotland’s 200% increase in motorcycle thefts is striking, but that is from zero to two. The Lothian and Borders area continues to have the greatest challenge when it comes to PTW thefts, with an increase of 31% to 34 in July.

Dorset sits at the bottom of the table this month with a 210% increase from 10 to 31 in July, closely followed by Gwent at 31 from 13 – both areas that could be seeing gangs targeting motorcycles and scooters.

The message remains the same… even using a basic disc lock can make your bike three times less likely to be stolen, so invest in decent security, use it then stop worrying and enjoy your bike!

Total PTW thefts July 2025: 2125 (up 61 from June)

Top story: Man charged with 20 motorbike thefts

West Midlands Police: We’ve charged a man with conspiracy to steal vehicles after more than 20 motorbikes were stolen in Wolverhampton, Dudley and South Staffordshire.

Clive Halford was arrested from an address in Pendeford last week as part of an investigation into the theft of 27 vehicles, mainly motorbikes, between 14 May and 8 July this year.

Halford, aged 30, was charged with conspiracy and appeared before Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on 30 July and remanded in custody to next appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 27 August.

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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.

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