Bikes fill lost and found

UNCLAIMED BIKES: Senior sergeant Scott Leonard with some of the stolen bikes at the Avondale station that have yet to be claimed.

If bobbies still rode bicycles, the Avondale police would be highly mobile.

The station has a storage room full of stolen bikes of all shapes and sizes that police would like to return to their rightful riders, but have so far gone unclaimed.

Some of the bikes are worth $1600 to $1700 each, and constable Landon Pearce is keen to see them returned to their owners.

He says some of the bikes have been recovered while police were carrying out search warrants, some have been handed in by members of the public and some have been found in the possession of known offenders.

Mr Pearce is particularly keen to find the owner of a Kona Blast mountain bike.

Police believe it was taken from a teenage boy who was punched and pushed off the bike near the West Wave complex in Henderson.

"We're trying to track down the victim," he says. "It would be great if he came forward. We've got this bike here we would like to return to him."

Recording serial numbers on bikes or putting identifying features on them are an owner's best chance of getting their bike back if they are found by police.

Stolen bikes coming in which can't be returned to their owners is an ongoing issue across police districts, not just in the west, he says.

If bikes are unable to be returned, they can end up being sold at police auctions.

Anyone with information about the robbery near West Wave is asked to contact the Avondale police on 8205700.

- © Fairfax NZ News