London’s phone theft ‘epidemic’ is scaring away tourists, a hotel empire boss has warned.
Greg Hegarty has become the latest leading business figure to raise the alert about rampant crime in the UK capital – with pressure on mayor Sadiq Khan to crack down.
Mr Hegarty, co-chief executive of PPHE Hotels which has 51 venues across Europe, told of having to hike spending on security in a bid to reassure potential visitors.
His concerns come as figures have shown a surge in phone snatching across London, with victims as young as four being targeted.
The £50million-a-year crimewave spreading across the country involves thugs speeding on scooters and bikes taking expensive phones from innocent citizens.
And now Mr Hegarty says visitors are being put off coming to London, a city that accounted for nearly a quarter of the UK’s travel and tourism spending in 2023.
The hotel chief said: ‘If I’m looking at the South Bank of London, and Oxford Street, you can’t carry a mobile phone in the street any more.
‘You have got tourists now who are becoming less and less confident in coming or going to certain areas of London.’
He described how his firm had doubled investment on security since before the Covid-19 pandemic, with crime risks identified as a ‘major concern’ both for recreational visitors and corporate customers staging conferences at PPHE hotels.
Mr Hegarty told the Telegraph: ‘I want our customers to feel safe and valued, because it makes a significant difference.
‘They want to know that they can sit in a bar and put their bag down, or sit in the bar and put a mobile phone down instead of being targeted by a gang.
‘It’s for sure increasing – people are reading [Tripadvisor posts] that are saying, “I’m walking along Westminster Bridge, and I’ve had my phone stolen”.’
And he suggested thefts received less attention in London than in other countries, saying: ‘There’s a lot more active policing elsewhere. When you go to Amsterdam they have got a very tough stance on certain behaviours now.’
PPHE, founded in 1989 by Israeli property developer Eli Papouchado, has a property portfolio valued at £2.2billion – with London setttings such as those named art’otel in Hoxton, east London, and at the recently-revamped Battersea Power Station.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘By intensifying our efforts, we’re catching more perpetrators and protecting people from having their phones stolen in the capital.
‘The Met is also working with other agencies and Government to tackle the organised criminality driving this trade and calling on tech companies to make stolen phones unusable.’
Promises have been made in recent days that e-scooters and e-bikes driven by brazen phone snatchers would be destroyed by police within hours of being seized.
Previously officers had to warn offenders before taking away and crushing a bike, scooter or any other vehicle driven in an anti-social manner or if it was used to facilitate a theft.
But now new powers would mean police no longer have to wait two weeks before throwing them away – and will be able to do so in a two-day time frame.
Ministers argued that the current two-week deadline made it less challenging for offenders to re-obtain their vehicles, meaning little discouragement against repeat offending.
And while e-bikes and scooters have increasingly annoyed pedestrians, they too are being more frequently used to snatch mobile phones out of the hands of unassuming walkers.
According to Metropolitan Police figures, 66,528 phones were stolen in the capital in the year leading up to September 2024.
Over the same period in Westminster, 22,253 thefts were reported equating to 85.4 incidents per every 1,000 people.
Among recent victims has been a Bridgerton actress who was left ‘concussed and traumatised’ when her phone was seized at a cafe in west London.
Zacariah Boulares, 18, carried out the theft from rising star Genevieve Chenneour as she sat in the Joe & The Juice cafe in Kensington.
The Algerian national last week pleaded guilty to stealing the phone when he appeared before Westminster magistrates in central London.
He also pleaded guilty to common assault against Carlo Kurcishi, another customer in the same cafe, as well as a separate charge of theft after taking a black leather handbag at a pizza restaurant.
Magistrates were told he had 12 previous convictions for 28 offences, all relating to theft.
The defendant has now been remanded into custody with sentencing scheduled for June 17 at Isleworth Crown Court in west London.
Chenneour has previously spoken of the terrifying moment she fought off the teenage thug who set upon her while she was walking her dog.
The actress, who appeared in season three of the Netflix hit show as rumour-monger Clara Livingston, told the Mail on Sunday this month: ‘They didn’t expect me to stand up for myself – but I did.’
The robbery happened when Yorkshire-born Genevieve had stopped at a branch of Joe & The Juice in west London.
She said: ‘I was left with a concussion just before the Screen Actors Guild Awards and since then, I’ve felt constantly on edge.
‘Even my dog was traumatised – now, if anyone touches me, he panics and tries to protect me.
‘Getting a coffee shouldn’t be something you need your wits about you for.
Discussing the new vows to destroy bikes used in such thefts, policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: ‘Anti-social and reckless driving brings misery to communities across the country, from dangerous street racing to off-road bikes tearing through local parks.
‘By enabling police to seize and dispose of these vehicles within just 48 hours, we’re giving our officers the tools they need to deliver immediate results and providing communities the swift justice they deserve.
‘As part of our Plan for Change, these new powers send a clear message that anti-social behaviour, whatever form it takes, will not be tolerated in our local communities.’
The Government is also looking to increase fines for seizing, towing and crushing vehicles, after a previous consultation found fees last went up almost two decades ago in 2008.
It comes as Scotland Yard has decided to fight back against London’s mobile theft epidemic by using invisible DNA.
Officers hope that marking e-bikes, an increasingly popular mode of getaway for marauding robbers, will allow them to track, catch and prosecute suspects.
They are also spraying riders’ clothes and skin with the invisible dye, which contains a unique DNA code only seen under UV light.
The substance, known as SelectaDNA, sticks on a target for several months allowing police to link them to a specific theft via the special code.
The method is being introduced in various hotspots around the country including London, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Scotland.
Criminals often use bikes and mopeds to snatch mobile phones from people, particularly at busy locations such as outside stations, shopping centres or concert venues. Often victims are approached from behind while talking or texting on phones. Criminals on mopeds or bicycles may mount the pavement to grab the phone or snatch it from the road. Sometimes when it’s a moped, a pillion passenger will snatch it.
While most thefts happen between six and ten at night, criminals operate during the day too, so always look out for what’s going on around you.
The Metropolitan Police has urged people to follow these steps to protect your phone:
Be aware of your surroundings
Use security features on your phone
Know how to identify your phone if it’s stolen
Never confront a thief or risk your own safety for the sake of your mobile
Source: The Metropolitan Police