Wiltshire Police plan to stage two bike security events at the railway station and in Walcot this month in a bid to tackle the problem of bike thefts in the town.

Between July 2020 and June this year there were 288 reports of bike thefts in Swindon.

The figures include robberies, bikes taken from gardens or residential properties and cycles reported stolen after being left in public places.

A force spokes spokesman said: “Our community policing teams in Swindon are aware of ongoing issues with bike thefts and are working hard to try to tackle this.

“We would urge all bike owners to follow our crime prevention advice to help keep their bike safe, and we will be running bike security events in the town during August to try to raise awareness about this.

“Our officers will be joined by officers from British Transport Police at the railway station, before moving on to the town centre, for an event which we plan to hold on 26 August.

"And there will be similar event at Buckhurst Playing Fields in Walcot, which we aim to hold on 28 August," he said.

In the last few weeks there have been several reports of children and young teenagers having their bikes or scooters stolen.

On July 15 a boy aged 13 was alleged to have had his bike stolen from him at knifepoint in an alleyway off Kingswood Avenue by a slightly older teenager.

The suspect was described as white, around 15 to16 years old, around 5ft 10 ins tall and wearing a light-blue tracksuit, dark baseball cap and some kind of face covering.

On July 29 another 13-year old boy was attacked in the underpass beneath Edison Road. The victim suffered a bruised eye after being punched in the side of the face.

His attacker fled, but not before the boy was able to punch him back.

The suspect was described as 5ft 1in and is thought to be about 15 years old although he spoke with a deep voice.

He was wearing an all-black Nike tracksuit with two white stripes and the Nike tick logo running down the arms. He was also wearing gloves and had a hood pulled up.

A fifteen-year-old boy in Park North also had his electric scooter stolen on July 31, when a stranger took it from outside the his house on Kenton Close at around 5:45pm

Two teenagers were arrested last month after an e-scooter was stolen at knifepoint.

More information on the security sessions, including confirmation on dates and timings, will be made available by police later this month.