A bewildered builder had his phone stolen out of his hand as he strolled down one of the capital’s most expensive streets.
The black hard hat-wearing construction worker was walking along Park Lane with a workmate.
The e-bike riding crook zoomed up beside him and swiped his mobile from his grasp.
The builder – in a yellow hi-vis – immediately gave chase as his colleague pointed at the thief.
But he was helpless to stop him and was forced to give up.
It happened close to five-star The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair, west London.
It was close to the junction with Aldford Street and opposite Hyde Park.
The theft was captured on CCTV in a 32-second video.
It occurred at 7:35am on Friday (4 Oct).
The theft comes amid an epidemic of similar crimes where electric bike riding crooks clad all in black target pedestrians holding their phones.
Londoner Dominic Ebi said: “They have to do something about those bikes.”
Alan McCluskey added: “Never used to be a London thing though.”
Kathryn Heaney said: “This happened to one of my relatives in London a few months back.”
Another added: “I hate these bike thieves.
“So cowardly and nasty.”
But Paul Oxley fumed: “Get off your phones and get your heads up.”
Another said: “Look people.
“Get a phone strap or don’t get your phone out.
“Look behind your shoulders at all times.
“These a*seholes are making my blood boil.”
A man had his phone stolen at the same spot on 29 July, as reported on Need To Know.
Last August, a brazen crook on an electric bike snatched a woman’s mobile phone just metres from The Ritz Hotel in Mayfair.
In June, two men on a moped tried to swipe a man’s phone as he stood on a street corner in Tottenham, north London
The Met Police has been approached for comment.
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