Birmingham: Gang of thieves raid e-mobility showroom in £40,000 robbery

This is the moment a group of balaclava-wearing thugs carried out a quick raid on an electric mobility showroom and stole thousands of pounds’ worth of equipment in minutes.

The thefts happened at around 9:20pm on Wednesday (8 March) at Electric Life’s showroom in Castle Vale, Birmingham.

The brazen thieves arrived in a large white van and two cars and broke through the locked parking lot gates.

CCTV footage then shows the gang driving to the building’s entrance in the snow-covered parking lot and pulling a large van with what appears to be a rope towards the door.

The five masked attackers then cut through the exterior fastener, sparks flying as they broke in with an angle grinder.

They then picked the locks on the front doors, again with the angle grinder, even though the premises were “fully alarmed and under CCTV”.

Once inside, they frantically grabbed bikes and scooters, with one attacker slipping on the floor in his haste to grab what he could.

They stole all the e-scooters on display and some of the £40,000 e-bikes, but no keys or chargers. The company said without those items, the bikes and scooters would be “unrideable” and difficult to resell.

Among the items taken were bicycles from leading brands such as Orbea, Whyte, Pure, Falcon and electric scooter brands Jivr and Inokim.

Electric Life is owned by Tandem Group, which it says has the “largest range of electric mobility products in the UK”, from electric bikes, electric scooters and electric motorbikes to electric golf trolleys and electric mobility scooters.

The showroom on Tameside Drive, near junction 5 of the M6, only opened at the end of November and the firm believes the raid was carefully planned.

Matt Rudd, Sales Director at Tandem Group Cycles said: “As a company we are devastated to witness this slump, the team have worked so hard following our recent opening of this showroom to develop a state of the art showroom retail space and an outstanding level to customer service.

“We work closely with the police to support ongoing investigations and our excellent partner brands allow us to support our customers and continue trading as usual.”

The thieves are said to have been “in and out in five minutes”. Police responded within nine minutes of the raid beginning and just four minutes after the thieves fled.

West Midlands Police confirmed the incident has been reported and the force is investigating. Anyone who suspects an e-bike or an e-scooter should call 101 on the criminal number 20/244614/23.

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