Lib Dem has top of the range bike pinched during Vince Cable visit to Camden Town

Pictured: A bike similar to the model owned by Lib Dem Ralph Scott

Wednesday May 5, 2010

By CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

IT was supposed to be his trusted steed, a bicycle that provided a speedy way to cover as much of Camden as possible during  the election campaign. But Lib Dem councillor Ralph Scott, who is seeking re-election in Kentish Town, was back on foot tonight after his wheels fell prey to a light-fingered thief with a hefty set of bolt cutters.

As Cllr Scott was busy showing off his area to one of the Liberal Democrat VIP’s, Vince Cable, he learned a harsh home truth about his patch.  His fancy bicycle, a Charge Plus, bought a month ago, was stolen outside Mornington Crescent Tube station in broad daylight even though it was chained up next to the newspaper stand and in full view of the Tube station.

“It’s shocking it got stolen in broad daylight outside the Tube station,” he said. His words clash with the boast from former Lib Dem London Mayoral hopeful Brian Paddick who spoke how crime was on the slide in Camden Town during an election photo opp last week.

Cllr Scott added: “I’m pretty devastated – it’s been my trusted servant for the last month and it’s been taken just when I needed it most. I’m now back on my ‘shanks’s pony’ [walking] – my campaign will be hampered by this.”

He has appealed to New Journal readers to help reunite him with his bike, a trendy £500 model with bull end handlebars in brown leather and a charcoal grey frame.

In 2008, the New Journal helped recover Conservative councillor Rebecca Hossack’s bicycle after we published photographs of it alongside an appeal for information.