Two hooded thieves attempt to steal a motorbike from the Asda car park

This is the moment two hooded bike thieves were chased away from their attempts to steal a high-powered motorbike from a supermarket car park in South Bristol.

A video filmed this afternoon, Sunday 12 May, by Bristol Live showed a breakaway rider waiting on a moped, alongside a young man in shorts trying to break the rear wheel lock of a motorbike.

The attempt appeared to set off the alarm, drawing attention to the pair’s efforts just meters from the entrance to the Asda store in Bedminster.

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The two would-be thieves were watched by store security and other shoppers just after 3.30pm on Sunday and with passers-by shouting and chasing them away, the rider jumped on his moped and called out to his partner to give up the attempt.

He followed on the back of the moped and the two sped off just as, outside the room, a staff member approached.

“It’s not the sort of thing you expect to see on a Sunday afternoon – they were quite reckless. It was broad daylight and the car park was very crowded – lots of people just watching,” said one onlooker.

Bike crime in Bristol is a huge problem, particularly the theft of larger bikes by young people on mopeds.

Earlier this year, a group of young offenders were convicted after attempting to steal a bicycle near Clifton Triangle. Video of the robbery, which saw bystanders trying to stop the pair, went viral after it was captured on a resident’s phone.