A promising cyclist from Team GB is now wary of navigating London’s streets after losing bikes valued at over £15,000 to a group of hooded thieves.
Seventeen-year-old Gabby McHugh, part of British Cycling’s development squad, was devastated to discover the disappearance of three bicycles from her father’s van outside their Clapham residence in south London on the morning of February 2.
Just hours before, a group of audacious individuals broke into the van under the cover of night, an act caught on a neighbor’s CCTV footage.
The video, which was shared with the Daily Mail, depicts several men in tracksuits boldly walking off with the bikes around 2 a.m., leaving behind tire covers scattered on the otherwise quiet street.
Among the stolen items were two high-end Pinarello Dogma bikes, each retailing for about £5,000. Gabby’s father, Matt, had only just purchased and loaded one of the bicycles into the van two days earlier, seemingly unaware that they were being watched by the thieves.
Following the incident, London-native Gabby is now apprehensive about cycling in the city, anxious about the threat posed by moped-mounted robbers. Despite her fears, the teenager, who aspires to go professional next year, has previously competed in international events across the world.
‘I was heartbroken and, to be honest, just scared,’ she tells the Mail. ‘I first saw that they were gone on my way to school. I went in the car, looked in the back seat and was just like, “Oh my gosh, they’re not there!”
‘You always see things on the news and then when it happens to you, it’s really shocking. When I’m by myself, I don’t really feel safe. I’ve heard stories about people on motorbikes throwing cyclists off their bikes and robbing them. It’s intimidating in London.’
Budding Team GB cyclist Gabby McHugh, 17, has been left scared to cycle in London after robbers stole three bikes from her worth £15,000
In video footage shared with the Daily Mail, the thieves are seen carrying the bikes along Gabby’s street in Clapham, south London
The brazen criminals leave tyre covers strewn across the road in their path before making off with the bikes under the cover of darkness
The robbery of which Gabby and her father were victims is the latest in a crime wave plaguing the capital which has seen bike-owners left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Between January and June 2025, some 6,721 bikes were reported stolen to the Metropolitan Police. Yet during the same period only 39 people were charged, prosecuted or cautioned despite – in many cases – the existence of clear-cut CCTV footage.
Blaming himself, Gabby’s ‘gutted’ father Matt set about tracking down the bikes on the day of the theft. Incredibly, it took him mere hours to uncover one of the alleged thieves.
‘The next day I was sending messages to legitimate bike dealers around London just trying to see what I could find,’ the 57-year-old said.
‘One of them, Marcus’ Bikes in Balham, called me straight away and said he’d seen it on eBay. It was on sale for £3,800. He messaged the seller and they invited him to an address in Nine Elms, Battersea.’
After being passed the seller’s phone number, Matt gave him a call. They agreed to meet at Stockwell Underground Station, south London, to exchange money for the bike. Or, so the thief thought.
‘He sounded like a roadman – kind of dodgy,’ Matt recalls. ‘When I’d agreed to meet him, I went down to Brixton Police Station to try and see if some officers could come with me.
‘A lot of them weren’t too bothered. It was frustrating, they are very busy and I am realistic, but I was basically handing them an arrest. The front desk just told me to call British Transport Police, so I went to their station in Stockwell.
‘Luckily, when I got there, they agreed to send two uniformed officers with me. But, when I went to meet the seller, the police weren’t there in time.
Blaming himself, Gabby’s ‘gutted’ father Matt set about tracking down the bikes on the day of the theft. Incredibly, it took him mere hours to uncover one of the alleged thieves (Gabby is pictured racing in Rwanda for British Cycling)
‘The seller was obviously watching, because once the police had arrived, he cancelled and texted me asking if I was with somebody.
‘To be honest, I doubt they were even going to turn up with the bike because they were expecting me to have nearly £4,000 in cash on me.’
The two rearranged for the following day at 10am but, again, the seller ‘got cold feet’ and cancelled.
The Met Police have since closed the case against the thieves despite the evidence Matt has been able to uncover – including the alleged criminal’s number, address and postcode.
Matt visited the postcode himself in a final bid to retrieve his daughter’s bikes. There, he found a lock-up garage on a Battersea housing estate which, he thinks, is likely where the bikes are being stored.
‘I tried so hard to get them to keep the case open, but it’s closed now,’ Matt says. ‘Why can’t they contact the housing association to see if they know anything?’
Matt estimates that the theft could cost him more than £10,000. On the day the bikes were stolen, he was weighing up quotations from insurers on the new Pinarello, but never finalised anything. Hours later, it was gone.
His is just one example of thousands of bike owners who have been the victims of robberies in London. Some, in broad daylight.
Only last week, just a couple of miles from Matt’s home in Clapham, cycling manager Tony Poole was threatened with a knife while trying to fend off two balaclava-clad thugs ripping a road bike from the top of his Volvo.
And earlier this month reports emerged that more than a dozen bikes were stolen from a velodrome in Herne Hill during the dead of night.
Matt is urging the Met Police to do more in their bid to tackle the issue, arguing criminals have ‘one up’ on officers.
Just 0.6 per cent of bike theft cases resulted in what the police described as a ‘positive outcome’ last year.
‘It’s not good for cycling – all of the fear and threat. They’re trying to push cycling as a mode of transport but, if people are scared to ride their bikes, it’s not going to get very far,’ Matt says.
‘The police need to be on motorbikes while these thieves are riding mopeds. There’s no prosecution on bike thefts.’
