Edinburgh crime: Thieves foiled in the act of stealing nurse's bike in Leith as they are captured on video

Thieves in Leith were foiled, seconds away from stealing the bike of an NHS nurse by passers-by who started to film them and call the police.

NHS nurse Hannah Jonathan has spoken about how passers-by were able to save her bike from being stolen.

She explained: “I use the bike for everything. I don’t drive. I bought it a year ago and it’s already done 5,000 km.”

She had locked her bike up to a gate on Leith Walk when the incident took place.

Edinburgh crime: Thieves foiled in the act of stealing nurse's bike in Leith as they are captured on video

"When I came out of the shop first, I saw a rainbow and I thought ‘aw sunshine on Leith’.”

Hannah was then returning to her bike when she saw a group of people around it, which made her nervous.

"I thought it was these people who were trying to steal it.

"Then a woman, who I found out was on the phone to the police, asked if it was my bike”

The passers-by had spotted two men using a tool to break the lock and so got their phone out and started filming, while another called the police.

Hannah used a very specific lock for her bike, one that her insurance insists upon, a gold standard Abus lock.

Despite this, the thieves were seconds away from successfully breaking it and taking the bike.

"It’s a good news story really,” Hannah concluded, “if the couple and the woman hadn’t stopped, my bike would have been gone.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Police received report of an attempted theft of a bike on New Orchardfield in Ednburgh shortly after 5pm on Tuesday, 22 February, 2022. Enquiries into the incident are ongoing."

According to the latest figures, a third of all Scotland's bike thefts took place in Edinburgh, with a jump of almost ten per cent in the number of stolen cycles in 2021.

When these figures were released back in November, Lothian Tory MSP Miles Briggs said: “If we are going to see more active travel across Edinburgh then it is crucial that we reduce the level of bike thefts across the city.

“The controversial Spaces for People programme is designed to promote cycling, but the council isn’t doing enough to protect peoples bikes."

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