Crook tries to grab Nicky Campbell's phone as he makes call

by · Mail Online

Presenter Nicky Campbell’s phone was nearly stolen by thieves while walking down the road.

The incident happened today near Oxford Street in London when the presenter's phone was snatched out of his hand before he quickly took it back.

He then shouted f*** you as the thief ran off. Campbell has warned others to ‘take care’ when walking down one of London's busiest streets.

The veteran broadcaster who hosts a morning breakfast show on Radio 5 Live, posted on X moments after the incident took place.

He said: ‘Near Oxford Street. Guy just tried to grab my phone as I was on it.

Presenter Nicky Campbell nearly had his phone stolen this afternoon while walking near Oxford Street in London
Crowds walking along Oxford Street in London where phone thefts are on the rise
Campbell has warned others to ‘take care’ when walking down one of London's busiest streets

'His hand was on it. I snatched it back and shouted ‘f*** you’ and he ran off. Take care out there people’.

People have reacted to the incident on social media. One person said: ‘Sorry to hear that Nicky. Seems it's been happening frequently’.

Another commented: ‘Nasty seems to be an epidemic now. Apparently, it's the contents of the phone the thief is after and not the phone itself.’

One person remarked: ‘Glad he didn’t get it, but have to say it was a bold move to think about using your phone there’.

In a recent report by the Dail Mail it was revealed that workers in Westminster, central London claim phone theft happens daily.

Criminals' most common tactic is to drive past on a bike or moped and grab the phone while their victim is distracted - such as when they are taking a photo or checking their messages at a traffic light.

Figures collated by local news site Southwark News show that Westminster is the worse area in London for phone snatching - with 22,253 incidents reported in the year leading up to September 2024.

MailOnline's map shows the apparent routes young crooks are taking on a regular basis in and around Hyde Park 
Dozens of shoppers and tourists are wandering the street, when seemingly out of nowhere, two balaclava-clad cyclists appear
A balaclava-clad thief was seen brazenly snatching a mobile phone from a woman's hand before racing away in central London in April

That equates to 85.4 thefts per every 1,000 people.

The rise in thefts is being fueled by demand for second-hand phones in the electronics hub of Shenzhen.  

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After being shipped into the city by criminal accomplices exploiting its lax approach to enforcing laws around stolen goods, the handsets are sold second hand if they can be unlocked and returned to factory settings.

If they cannot be sold whole, they are dismantled and the component parts - such as the screen, motherboard and speaker - used for repairs or even pieced together into entire new handsets.

Shenzhen is located in the south of China next to the border with Hong Kong. Known as the country's 'Silicon Valley' due to its expertise in electronics, it is also home to large retail outlets selling used consumer goods.

Figures have shown that a mobile phone is reported as stolen in London every six minutes.

There were almost 91,000 phones snatched from Londoners in 2022, at an average of 248 a day, with only two per cent of the stolen devices recovered.

Criminals often target pedestrians in busy locations such as outside stations, shopping centres or concert venues, and usually approach from behind, meaning victims aren't aware of how vulnerable their phone is until it's too late.

The worst-hit borough was the City of Westminster, Camden was the second worst affected, with 4,806 incidents, followed by Southwark (4,376), Hackney (2,761), Newham (2,585), Lambeth (2,394) and Islington (2,117).

In London as a whole more than 52,000 phones were stolen last year.