OT: What Cheek! David Cameron has bicycle stolen on shopping trip
Eric Vey
The Conservative leader had locked the bicycle to a bollard while he
picked up dinner from a supermarket in Portobello Road, west London.
Mr Cameron – who was photographed by a passer-by on a mobile phone after
the cycle was stolen – said that he had reported the theft to the police
but was not "holding his breath" for its return. Almost 20,000 bicycles
are stolen annually in London.
"I was cycling home and stopped to pick up some things for supper," Mr
Cameron said. "I chained the bike through the wheel then put it around
one of those bollard things. I have reported it using the police's new
online facility but I'm not expecting it back any time soon."
He also appealed to the thieves, thought to be a gang of teenagers, to
return the bicycle. "If anyone has seen it I would very much like it
back," he said. "To me it was absolutely priceless."
Local shop workers said that Mr Cameron had spent some time looking for
the bicycle. One said: "He was embarrassed and a bit annoyed. He was
going round talking to people asking them if they had seen it – most
people didn't recognise him."
The Conservative leader is due to start his annual summer holiday in
Cornwall this weekend. A spokesman for Mr Cameron said: "Obviously David
is quite hacked off by the theft of his bike, especially having locked
it up."