Opportunistic thieves are taking advantage of a lack of bike cages at train station carparks to steal bicycles in droves.
Crime prevention officer Craig McDonald said bike thefts at train stations were on the rise across Wyndham but were particularly prevalent at Williams Landing.
Leading Senior Constable McDonald said that each week day up to 200 bikes were being chained to fences on either side of the pedestrian overpass leading to Williams Landing station, making it easy for thieves to cut chains and steal bikes.
“There’s cages for the bikes there, but the cages just can’t handle the number of bikes that people are riding to the station,” he said.
“There’s not enough places for them to secure their bikes. I’m surprised to see the amount of bikes parked at Williams Landing train station. There are cut chains everywhere.”
On the flip side, very few bike thefts are being recorded at Tarneit station.
Leading Senior Constable McDonald called on cyclists to make more of an effort when securing their bikes at train stations.
He said police would petition for another cage to be built on the Point Cook side of the overpass leading to Williams Landing train station.
Wyndham police plan to tackle the spike in bike thefts in an operation next month.
