A thief has lost their wheels after police confiscated a Boris Bike disguised with a less than convincing new paint job.

Determined to get keep the bike as their own, one light-fingered Leyton cyclist took things up a gear by giving the hire bike a slapdash, bright blue paint job in a bid to evade the law.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

The slapdash paint job didn't fool police officers who found the bike

However, officers from the Lea Bridge neighbourhood policing team weren’t about to be taken for a ride and reclaimed the bicycle when they found it in an alleyway off Burwell Road yesterday afternoon (Wednesday, September 13).

The bike has now been returned to the Santander Cycles scheme, which was launched in 2010 and provides rental cycles to Londoners at more than 800 locations across the capital.