YOU are less likely to have your bike stolen in Gwent than most places in the UK.

Gwent Police's bike theft crime rate from July 2019 to June 2020 was the fourth lowest in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The number of thefts of bicycles in the Newport East constituency was in single digits every month over the last year.

While the same is true of the Newport West constituency since December 2019.

Police in Monmouthshire did not have more than five bike thefts in a month during the last year.

However, some residents said that was at odds with their own experience.

One said: "That’s funny because I’m always seeing people posting about their or their kids bike being stolen pretty much everyday."

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Nationally, there have been roughly 19,000 fewer incidents of bicycle theft over the past year compared to the one before.

Figures from UK CrimeStats, so that between July 2019 and June 2020 there were 71,000 thefts across the UK, down 21 per cent.

While the lockdown saw the lowest figure (4,046 in April) for the past two years, December had almost exactly the same figure (4,047).

The high point for bicycle theft in the past two years was in July 2018 with 9,910 thefts.

The research presented by UK CrimeStats – a leading crime data research and analysis platform – covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is based on reported bicycle thefts.

Responding to the new data, Greg Wilson, founder of Quotezone.co.uk - which launched one of the UK’s first price comparison services for bicycle insurance – says: “It’s really positive to see such a significant drop in the number of bike thefts, especially when bike sales have spiked due to the pandemic and the subsequent push for people to get fit and lose weight – at a social distance.

“Hopefully this latest trend marks a continued decline in petty crimes like theft and burglaries, with lockdown teaching us a renewed sense of community spirit and fuelling the revival of local support networks such as neighbourhood watch.

“Although the total number of bicycle thefts is falling, the risk of theft hasn’t disappeared, which is why we’d encourage people, especially if they have made a significant investment in new bicycle equipment in recent months, to double check that their home insurance covers their bike. If their bicycle isn’t covered, or if the single item limit on their home insurance policy means the coverage isn’t enough to meet their needs, we’d advise them to look into a standalone bicycle insurance policy for their new wheels.”