BIKE thieves made off with more than 3,000 cycles in Glasgow in the last three years, according to new figures.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Evening Times can expose the number of crooks targeting pedal bikes in the city.

Last year, a total of 1279 cycles were pinched, the latest figures from Police Scotland revealed.

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Between January and March this year, 219 bikes were stolen, equating to 16 being taken every week. In 2017 the thefts reached a peak, with a whopping 1515 missing cycles being reported as theft.

A year earlier, in 2016, there were 1,288 bikes stolen in the city with 91 thieves detected.

In 2015, 1,193 bikes were nicked, while only 71 perpetrators were caught.

Stephen McGuigan, 29, said cycle thieves must be taken more seriously, after he had his £600 bike stolen at the University of Glasgow Sport building in February this year.

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The Change the Game business mentor, from the city’s West End, contacted cops after discovering there had been several incidences of cycle thefts that day.

He said: “I had parked my bike in the safety racks provided.

“Locked it up with the bike lock I have, in less than an hour of going for a coffee it’s been stolen.

“The lock was snapped with bolt cutters.

“I was pretty shocked to be honest.

“A lot of us in Glasgow - especially self employed - work hard for our belongings and to leave a bike in what appeared to be a safe and secure, as well as reputable establishment, to then find it was stolen within an hour of coming back from a coffee meeting, was quite disgusting.”

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Earlier this year, Councillor Ken Andrew said Glasgow University students were being targeted by cycle gangs.

Cops found 15 stolen bikes hidden in a shipping container in the West End.

It is understood when the equipment was discovered two individuals were found bringing in more stolen bicycles.

Councillor Ken Andrew said at the time: “There is a network of thieves. “Sometimes they cannot steal the full bike so they take different parts of it.

“By the time they are finished they can make their own.”

Although the number of bike thefts is significant, cops find it difficult to catch perpetrators unless there is CCTV footage in the location or a tracking device on the vehicle.

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Inspector Ross Kelly said: "Our local community officers within Glasgow City Centre continue to actively target the issue of bicycle thefts particularly key areas where such incidents are problematic.

"They explore all CCTV opportunities available to them in attempting to identify perpetrators and have recovered a number of bicycles over recent weeks which have been returned to their owners.

"Officers are also available to provide members of the public with security advice in relation to both storage and security of their bicycles.

“We would also urge members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity around bicycle racks to their local police station or via 101.”

To report a stolen bike call Police on 101.