A West Watford cyclist was left “utterly astounded” after police told him they would not investigate the theft of his £100 bike wheels despite having CCTV footage covering the offence.

Hertfordshire Constabulary has informed David Cragg, who lives in Whippendell Road, it would not be pursuing the crime due to the “timescale” of the CCTV coverage.

The wheels on Mr Cragg’s specialised mountain bike were taken while it was locked to a bike rack in Watford General Hospital. Mr Cragg’s son, Michael, who works at the hospital, had ridden there on the £600 bike on March 12.

Once he discovered the wheels had been taken, he went to Watford police station to report the theft, and was given a crime number.

Weeks later Mr Cragg received a letter from the police saying they were not pursuing the incident as they were unlikely to catch anyone.

The letter said: “I would like to update you that your local Safer Neighbourhood Policing team were made aware of your crime, and have included this information in their patrol plans.

“While there may be CCTV coverage at the hospital, the time scale over which the theft occurred unfortunately dictates we are unable to review the film on the off chance the theft may have been recorded (experience has shown that most incidents of this type are not captured on CCTV).”

It continued: “At this time there is insufficient evidence that will lead to the offender being identified and arrested, so the crime investigation has now been concluded.

If at any time in the future any new evidence is established, the investigation will be re-opened and we will update you.” Mr

Cragg said: “When they came back, I was utterly astounded at the tone of the letter which was basically saying they had done nothing as they did not think they would catch anyone.

“Firstly, I expect CCTV cameras would be fit for purpose. If they can’t see what’s going on, I can’t see much point in them.

“If they put a bike rack in a specific place they are saying it is a safe place to park a bike, which patently isn’t true.”

Mr Cragg said he had already had two bikes stolen from the town centre over the last two years and called on the police to put more effort into catching the perpetrators.

He added: “They say they are taking it seriously and catching people, but from my experience there is not a lot going on. As long as people are finding it easy money, nothing will change, as long as the police are not putting the effort into stopping them.”

Sarah Spence, a spokesman for Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: “The theft may have occurred at any point during a seven-hour period.

“Due to this, and the nature of the crime, it would not be proportionate to view this footage. Should any further proportionate lines of inquiry be reported these will be looked into.”