Rider pictured brandishing hammer after spate of moped-enabled thefts around London

Police are investigating after a surge in moped-enabled crimes
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Seated on the back of a moped and clutching a red clawhammer, a young man in black is driven away at high speed amid a spate of moped-enabled crimes on London’s streets.

The dramatic photograph was shot by a resident in Belsize Park.

Campaigners today called for the Met to be given greater powers to tackle the problem which has rocketed to the level of a crime an hour in the capital.

They warn that young thieves consider themselves untouchable because of lenient sentences and Scotland Yard’s unwritten policy of “no helmet, no pursuit”.

Theft: The image was taken by a resident after an attempt to steal a new Vespa parked outside The Stag gastropub on Thursday

The call came after a series of incidents over the weekend and new figures showing there were 11,389 moped-enabled crimes in London last year, a seven-fold increase on 2015.

Police released CCTV footage showing a tourist breaking his leg as he was run down by moped thieves as he walked outside a hotel in Park Lane. He managed to escape by crawling away.

Detectives are also hunting a rider who mounted the pavement outside Selfridges in Oxford Street on a Vespa to snatch two mobile phones.

Moped Gang wielding hammers - In pictures

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His 18-year-old pillion rider accomplice was arrested at the scene.

In a further incident last night, two men were arrested after an attempted phone robbery by four suspects on two mopeds in Plumstead.

The gang fled but early today the mopeds were spotted on CCTV and a police helicopter was involved in a chase which led to the arrest of two men aged 17 and 20.

The image of the moped-riding young man carrying a hammer was taken by a resident after an attempt to steal a new Vespa parked outside The Stag gastropub on Thursday.

One resident said: “They weren’t concerned at all, even with half the street coming over to take pictures of them, and came back four times.”

Police said the scooter was damaged but not taken.

Tom Hardy chases London moped thief scene pictures

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One front-line officer revealed the police’s frustration at the crime wave.

Writing anonymously on a police forum, he said: “Frontline officers are all as frustrated about this as the public are, believe me. We don’t like these kids having one over on us.”

A spokesman for the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Community called for the police to be given greater powers to pursue offenders on mopeds more easily and without fear of prosecution.

"Mike Butler, co-founder of the pressure group We Ride London, said police were hampered by budget cuts, bureaucracy and fear of prosecution by the police watchdog if they were deemed to have used “disproportionate force” in an arrest.

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