CRAFTY crooks have cracked the code to steal bikes from a city-wide hire scheme.

It has emerged that 35 bright pink 'People Make Glasgow' bikes have been stolen since August last year.

Bike stations in Govan and the East End have been hit the hardest with crooks managing to override the security on the cycles.

Anyone who wants to hire a cycle in the city is asked to register via an app or phone.

They then enter the bike number and are supplied with a code to unlock it.

They must supply debit or credit card details for the hire scheme but it appears that crooks have managed to steal the bikes from their stations - bypassing these security measures.

The issue was discussed at Bridgeton and Dalmarnock Community Council after locals raised concerns with Councillor Greg Hepburn about theft of the bikes.

The community council heard that a total of 25 bikes have been stolen since the scheme was first launched in June 2014 up to the two year point of the contract.

The operator NextBike replaced those stolen bikes at no cost to Glasgow City Council last August.

But since then a further 35 bikes have been reported stolen with 25 already replaced and 10 remaining outstanding.

NextBike have been working with Police Scotland, Community Safety Glasgow and several community groups in a bid to reduce the number of thefts.

It is also understood that NextBike are proposing to introduce a new integrated lock which will make it harder for thieves to steal the bikes.

NextBike say their bikes are equipped with locks, and GPS trackers as standard - which allows them to see where they are on an online map.

The firm added that most of the stolen bikes are recovered by the maintenance team within 24 hours to a month of them going missing.

There are 435 bikes available for hire at 43 stations across the city.

The Evening Times previously reported plans to more than double the number of bikes available in Glasgow were given the go-ahead.

Councillors agreed a new seven-year contract which will see the scheme expand from autumn this year.

More than 16,000 people have registered to use the bikes which have been hired more than 270,000 times.

The decision to award a seven year contract to NextBike will result in the number of bikes available more than doubling and many more cycle stations across the city.

New locations will be based on where there are areas of high demand, the proximity to railway stations or key cycling, and transport routes and future developments.

NextBike operates 35,000 bikes in 80 cities worldwide including Auckland, Dubai, Nurnberg and Zagreb.

The Glasgow scheme is the biggest in Scotland and the fourth largest in the UK.