Bicycle thieves have been caught red-handed by Cambridge students over the last few weeks, highlighting the high number of incidents of bicycle theft in the town.

A thief was caught attempting to steal a bicycle last week by a student at the Sidgwick Site, an area which has become the target of bicycle thefts in recent weeks.

The thief was stopped by a Modern Languages graduate, but managed to flee the scene before he could be detained. The brown bicycle was recovered but is yet to be claimed.

The Cambridgeshire Cycle Projects Team believes that the surge in bicycle thefts at this time of year is because of the intake of new students with new bicycles, who are unaware of the dangers.

According to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, around 2,500 bicycles were stolen in Cambridge itself in between September 2008 and August 2009, an eight per cent increase from the previous year.

Cambridge was also named as the UK’s bicycle theft capital in a report published by the Cambridgeshire Community Safety Partnership.

Sergeant Gordon Morgenthaler of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary told Varsity, "The theft of cycles in Cambridgeshire is a real issue for many people who live, work or study in our county."

He also encouraged people to lock their bikes securely, adding, "It seems simple and it is obvious, yet so many people leave their bike unlocked or very poorly secured."

A graduate who lives in the city centre was woken a few days ago to hear "metallic noises" on his footpath.

He looked out of his window to see that a hooded young man, around 20 years old, had broken one bicycle lock and was struggling to break another. The man fled when the student shouted from his room.

"I guess there is a large and organised bike thieving group of people in Cambridge," he said. "You can see them wandering about the town in daylight, checking for the best bikes."

The police are working hard with several organisations to reduce cycle theft, which now makes up more than ten per cent of recorded crime, according to the Cambridge Cycling Campaign.

"The era of bikes against a wall must be ended by 2020," the Campaign states.

Campaigns are being conducted to highlight the problems facing students and to set up a greater number of cycle stands, especially in busy areas such as Sainsbury’s.

The Cambridgeshire Constabulary annually recover 700-800 stolen bicycles; in order to increase this number they are encouraging students and residents to sign up their bicycles with Immobilise, a company which registers property to aid the return of stolen items.

However, a spokesman for the Cambridge Cycle Projects Team believes that the high levels of theft are merely proportional to the high numbers of bicycle journeys. Cambridge has the highest rate of cycle usage in the country, according to the Cambridge Community Safety Report, with 26 per cent of journeys being taken on bicycles compared with the national average of 2.8 per cent.