An award-winning outdoor adventure company has called the theft of 15 bikes “a kick” after a hard-working year by the team in Aberfeldy.
Ross Dempster of Beyond Adventure shared a post about his Bike Hut container in Aberfeldy which was raided on the night of Monday, November 7.
He admitted to feeling “pretty gutted” after his business lost a fleet of valuable bikes used for holiday hire.
And the theft was done so as to avoid the culprits being identified in video evidence.
Thieves had pulled back the cladding and cut a hole in the locked container, just big enough to wheel out the hire bikes which were a mix of electric bikes and mountain bikes, all of Mondraker or Trek brands.
They avoided cameras and security lighting.
With 15 bikes taken there would need to have been transport waiting nearby.
Ross told the PA: “Last Tuesday morning, a member of staff came in to find the bike container was not as we’d left it.
“The thieves had meticulously scoped the place beforehand. They never entered the car park and got around our lighting and CCTV cameras.
“There was a hole cut in the side of the Bike Hut container. This was obviously a planned job.
“We just won a Thistle Award for best outdoor provider in Tayside, Fife and Central which we took as a well-deserved pat on the back.
“After getting the Thistle Award, surviving Covid, Brexit and the economic slowdown beginning to bite, this break-in feels like a massive kick.
“It really hurts and is a disappointing way to wind up a hard-working season given by my team here.
“The bikes are just things. No one was hurt in the break-in. Worse things are happening in other places and we were insured. But this leaves a very bad feeling.”
Ross put out an appeal on social media: “If anybody saw anything suspicious between midnight November 7 and 6am on November 8, please let us know. Clearly a professional job, the majority of our bikes were taken.
“It’s likely the van was parked at the road end where the new lodges are getting built. Was anybody driving by and noticed?”
Beyond Adventure can be contacted on 01887 829202. The police can be contacted on 101.
