Brazen bike gang swipe BBC camera
AN AUDACIOUS moped gang stole a BBC camera and tried to grab another after they were set up on bridges over the Thames to film today’s Boat Race.
Dressed in black and wearing full-face crash helmets, they stopped Thursday’s rush-hour traffic so one thug, armed with an angle grinder, could try to cut down a fixed-position broadcast camera worth about £250,000 from Putney Bridge.
An off-duty policeman confronted the six-strong gang, who sped off emptyhanded.
But they simply drove to Barnes Bridge further downstream in London, where this time they managed to get away with a similar camera.
The stolen camera was one of 30 set up along the 4.2 mile route for the BBC’s coverage of the Oxford-Cambridge race.
Shocked rush-hour commuters looked on in horror at the attempt to steal the camera on Putney Bridge, which is the start of the iconic boat race.
One witness said: “At first I thought it would be a robbery, stealing from people stuck in the traffic. But then I saw them take the angle-grinder to a metal object fixed to the bridge and I realised they were trying to steal the camera.”
Another witness said: “They were big guys and very confident.
“It was the fact that they had the audacity to do this in the sunshine and in the middle of London’s rush hour.
“Everyone was very scared and stayed in their vehicles. We didn’t know if they had knives.”
Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “Our priority is the safety and welfare of staff and nobody was hurt in this incident. This is now a matter for police.”