Watch this Edinburgh bike thief get caught on camera outside Bijou Bistro while stealing a staff member’s bike
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Alistair Berry, who is an employee at the Bijou Bistro on Restalrig Road, was devastated to find his bike - passed down to him by his father - was snatched from the railings outside the cafe on Wednesday morning.
Footage recovered from the bistro’s CCTV cameras shows the hooded man, dressed in dark clothing and carrying a black backpack, confidently stride up to the bike near Leith Links at 9:18am, before swiftly breaking through its lock and riding off on it.
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Hide AdThe brazen theft - just one of a spate of bicycle-related crimes in the Capital in recent months - left Alistair feeling “horrible”.
“The guy looked me straight in the face as he walked past the bistro,” he explained.
And amazingly, it is not the first bike that has been stolen from the 36-year-old this week.
A few days ago, another was pinched from a secure bike shed at the rear of his flat building in Seafield Road.
In November last year, his son’s bike was stolen too.
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Hide Ad“It’s horrible, just horrible,” Alistair told the Evening News.
He explained that the latest bike to be stolen is “not worth a huge amount of money”, but insisted that its true value was sentimental.
“My dad passed it onto me,” he explained, “I was using it for the school run.
“I’m not a big cyclist,” he added, “but lockdown definitely made me a bit more keen.”
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Hide Ad“My eldest boy loves cycling, and he’d hop on the back - but that can’t happen anymore.
“I just can’t really afford another bike so close to Christmas.”
Alistair is furious at this latest, shameless theft.
“I know I’m probably not going to get my bike back, but I’m more concerned that this person gets justice.
“Who knows how many other people he has done this to?”
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: "Police Scotland received a report of a stolen mountain bike from Restalrig Road in Edinburgh at 10.40am on Wednesday 28 October.
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Hide Ad“Anyone who knows where the bike is now should call 101, quoting 0901 of 28 October."