133 Merida bikes taken from container at Fleet Services

Thieves have raided a 40ft container housing 133 Merida bikes that was parked at Fleet services on the M3, within a secure lorry park equipped with CCTV and ANPR.

Having landed at Southampton port on Thursday May 12th the container was headed for Merida’s logistics facility in Felixstowe. The container was hosting 210 bikes, so thieves were successful in making of with more than half of the shipment, despite security arrangements. Locks on the container were cut in the process of the theft.

The organised effort is not the first in recent memory to prove so successful for the thieves. Manufacturers have been grappling with increasingly determined and meticulous thefts, even some where drivers have reportedly been ‘gassed‘ to ensure no disturbance. Giant had a similar theft take place on the A12, only in February, when 127 electric bikes were unloaded.

Merida UK boss Chris Carter told CI.N: “Our logistics partner is working with the lorry park operator and the police to try and trace the criminals.

“Thankfully, this is the first such theft in over 20 years for Merida, and was the result of random targeting as nobody could know what was in the container.

“We have published a full list of stolen bikes with frame numbers on our B2B and consumer websites.”

If you are aware of anyone offering these bikes for sale, please contact 0115 981 7788, or merida@meridauk.com.

A full list and description of the missing bikes is found below: