A recumbent e-trike has been stolen from a community project’s bike shelter in Swansea, forcing it to temporarily close.
Mount Pleasant Community eBikes suffered a break in at around 4am on July 30, where the recumbent belonging to Manoah Smiley, a right leg amputee, was stolen. The community-led bike-share initiative said the bike shelter will be closed until it is made secure.
A post on the project's Facebook group said: “Hi everyone. We had a break-in at our bikeshelter around 4am this morning and Manoah's recumbent was stolen. The back of the bike shelter has been smashed and was left wide open. I am seeking to store our two e-bikes and e-trike somewhere safe for the time being until we find a way to secure the bike shelter. Please message me if you have any suggestions. Meantime: NB: WE'LL BE CLOSED UNTIL THIS HAS BEEN ACHIEVED. The picture is of the trike the day Manoah got it. Please message me if you have any info. Many thanks.”
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Smiley's partner Leonie Ramondt, who co-ordinates the Mount Pleasant Community eBikes project, said the back of the bike shelter had been “smashed into”. The e-trike was still attached to a rail with a heavy-duty lock when it was taken, but the rail itself had not been secured into the ground due to a lack of space.
The other bikes in the shelter were attached to a rail that was secured to the ground. They blocked access to the e-trike from the front, and Ramondt said the thieves had come specifically to get the e-trike and carried it out from the back.
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A spokesperson for South Wales Police said they were called just before 1pm on July 30 with the report of the theft, and enquiries are “ongoing including a search through CCTV and doorbell camera footage in the area”.
A spokesperson for Coastal Housing Group, which had supported the e-bike project, said: “Having supported the Mount Pleasant e-bike scheme with both funding and in-kind support, we were very disappointed to learn it’s been the subject of a break-in.
"As a signatory to the Swansea Bay Healthy Travel Charter, Coastal’s committed to active travel and the e-bike scheme is a superb example of a community coming together to provide easy, low-cost access to this. We will of course assist the police in any investigation of the incident.”
