In a dramatic incident, masked thieves boldly snatched an £8,000 bicycle from atop a Volvo in a luxurious south London area, subsequently brandishing a knife at a cyclist.
Tony Poole found himself fearing for his safety after he confronted the audacious criminals on a quiet Putney street in south London. The unsettling event took place on Friday, March 13, in broad daylight.
The 33-year-old was preparing for a getaway with his JAKROO Handsling Racing team to the Peak District. He was at a friend’s house, where homes are valued at nearly £3 million, when he was alerted by the sound of honking cars.
“I was there to collect some gear,” he shared with the Daily Mail. “We had just loaded the car and secured the bikes on the roof when we received a call around 2:30 pm. We barely got started when we needed to step outside.”
As he rushed out, Poole witnessed a masked individual attempting to yank one of the bicycles from the car’s roof. One bike was already on the ground, while an accomplice waited on a moped.
Footage captured by bystanders shows the pair committing their brazen act in full view of astonished neighbors in the middle of the day.
Mr Poole then bursts into the frame in a bid to save his bikes – worth a combined £16,000 – but is left with little choice but to retreat after one of the two thieves, he says, pulled out a knife.
‘As I approached them, the guy on the roof jumped down and I was shouting, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” It was terrifying,’ he recalls.
This is the moment a brazen thief is spotted ripping a bicycle from the top of a Volvo on a leafy residential street in Putney, south London
An alternative angle of the dramatic moment shows one of the thugs carrying the a bike over his shoulder as he speeds on a moped
‘Once he was on the ground, he lifted up his shirt and grabbed this large handle that was coming from his waistband. I thought it might have been a pistol, but it was actually a large knife.
‘The tip stretched all the way down to his knees. He took a couple of steps towards me, threatened me and was ready to pull it out.
‘I stepped back, he gave one more attempt to pull the other bike off the roof, and the two of them made off on the moped.’
As the motorbike whizzes around the corner, one of the thugs is seen perched on the backseat with Mr Poole’s bike resting on his shoulder. The team manager’s other bicycle was left behind, destroyed on the ground.
The Handsling AIROevoS which the thieves made off with sells for up to £8,000. It is yet to be recovered.
But Mr Poole says that, more than losing his bike, he feared for his life in the moment the thief pulled out his weapon.
‘I have never been in a situation like that. At first, I’m like, I need to stop this but as soon as the weapon is brandished, it flips it on its head,’ he said.
‘I’ve got a wife at home. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. It was terrifying, I was shaking. You’re thinking, “What’s at stake here?” Are these bikes worth my life and a limb.’
Mr Poole released a statement through his cycling team on social media in the aftermath of the attack in a desperate bid for information.
‘Bike theft in London has become organised and brazen,’ it read. ‘Today it crossed the line into violent robbery.
Despite trying to wrench down both bikes – worth a combined £16,000 – the thieves only managed to make off with one
The other, a Handsling AIROevoS, was however left totally destroyed ahead of Mr Poole’s cycling trip to the Peak District last weekend
‘Senseless really, when you realise how much damage the bikes sustained as they were in the process of being stolen.’
Some 6,721 bikes were reported stolen to the Metropolitan Police between January and June 2025, marking a concerning rise in the capital.
And, in the aftermath of Friday’s incident, Mr Poole has been made aware of a number of other robberies in south London.
One, in Herne Hill, he says saw more than a dozen bikes stolen. While in Roehampton on Saturday another man told of having his taken from him by moped-riding thugs.
During the first half of last year, just 39 people were charged, prosecuted or cautioned over bike thefts.
This equated to 0.6 per cent of cases having what the police coin ‘a positive outcome’ – compared to an 11 per cent chance of winning any prize on the National Lottery.
In February 2025, just four of the city’s 855 reported thefts resulted in a charge or caution.
It is thought the real number of bike thefts is significantly higher due to underreporting.
Of the crime in Putney, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘On Friday, 13 March at 15:01hrs police were called to reports of a robbery on Dover Park Drive, Putney.
‘The suspects fled the scene before officers attended. A bike was stolen from the roof of a car. No injuries were reported.
‘Police are aware of video on social media which appears to show the incident taking place. This will be reviewed as part of the investigation.
‘Enquiries continue and anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 3953/13MAR26.’
