Man arrested after 'stealing Thames Clippers river bus' near London's Tower Bridge

A file photo of a Thames Clipper vessel in London
PA
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A man has been arrested after allegedly stealing a river bus from the Trinity Buoy Wharf in east London.

Specialist marine officers were called at around 3am on Saturday morning after police received reports that a man had jumped over a security gate and stolen a Thames Clippers boat in the River Thames near Tower Bridge.

Police said they used their blue lights to stop the vessel which slowed but did not come to a stop straight away.

The marine officers eventually managed to board the river bus and take control of the Thames Clippers vessel.

It was then taken to Canary Wharf dock where the Metropolitan Police arrested a man in his twenties on suspicion of burglary and theft.

A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said: "On Saturday August 29, at 3:10am, marine support units were called to reports that a man jumped over a security gate and stolen a Thames Clipper boat from Trinity Buoy Wharf.

'"Marine support units intercepted the Clipper with the blue lights illuminated. The vessel slowed but did not come to a stop.

"Marine officers boarded and took control of the vessel and it was taken to Canary Wharf dock."

Police added that the man remains in custody and an investigation is ongoing.

Thames Clippers told the MailOnline that it was unable to comment on the alleged theft due to the police investigation.

A spokesperson said: "As this matter is the subject of an ongoing police investigation we are unable to comment at this time."

More than 4.3 million people use the River Thames for commuting and leisure trips each year on the Thames Clippers network, the company has said.

Recently Uber revealed it was forming a new partnership with Thames Clippers to launch the service, Uber boat.

The multi-year partnership will launch later this summer and see the riverboats branded as Uber Boats by Thames Clippers, though the service is fully operated by the riverboat service still.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in