Home secretary Sajid Javid reveals he was mugged for his mobile phone by moped thieves on London street

‘I was angry and upset but thought myself lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up like many other victims who fall prey to these vicious criminals’

Mr Javid is part of the latest Scotland Yard statistics which show an average of 60 crimes a day were committed using mopeds or motorbikes in the year to April (PA)

Home secretary Sajid Javid has revealed he had his mobile phone stolen in a mugging by moped thieves in north London.

Mr Javid, who is in charge of the nation’s policing and security, said criminals snatched his brand new phone outside Euston station shortly before he took up his current cabinet role.

“It happened in a flash,” he told The Sun on Sunday. “I was walking out of Euston station and reached for my phone to call a taxi.

“Before I knew what was happening, it had gone. They just rode up, grabbed it and zoomed off.

“I was angry and upset but thought myself lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up like many other victims who fall prey to these vicious criminals.”

The minister spoke out about the incident after Michael McIntyre was robbed of his watch by moped-riding thieves.

The comedian was on the school run in his Range Rover in Golders Green, in north London, when thugs smashed the windows before stealing the Rolex.

The minister fell foul of thieves outside Euston station (Reuters)

Mr Javid, who has four children, admitted he worries about them if they are out late and his parental concern drives him to tackle the problem.

“Our streets should be safe at all times, you shouldn’t have to worry about things like knife or other crime,” he said.

The latest Scotland Yard statistics show an average of 60 crimes a day were committed using mopeds or motorbikes in the year to April – a 50 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

In the year to May 2018, there were 22,025 crimes committed on mopeds in London, up from 14,699 in the previous 12 months.

But despite the sharp year-on-year rise, police said there had been a steady decrease in the last four months.

The rising use of mopeds to carry out violent robberies using acid, knives and hammers has sparked alarm, with moped delivery drivers targeted for their vehicles, which are then used to commit more crime.

As previously reported by The Independent, police officers are allegedly disguising themselves as takeaway delivery drivers in London to catch the moped-riding criminals.

However London’s Metropolitan Police said it could not “comment on covert policing methods or tactics due to operational reasons”.

Police officers chasing criminals riding mopeds could be given new legal protections to prevent them being prosecuted.

The government has said it wants to “smash the myth that officers cannot pursue riders who are not wearing helmets” by making it clear in law that suspects are responsible for their own decision to drive dangerously.

The Home Office has launched a consultation on changing the law, which currently applies the same legal test for careless and dangerous driving offences to police officers as the general public.

Speaking from the G7 summit in Quebec earlier this month, prime minister Theresa May reiterated her commitment to reforming the law around pursuing moped criminals.

“We are looking at the pursuit that police are able to make of these people, and actually ensuring they have got the powers that they need,” she said.

“They must be able to pursue them and able to take the action we agree that they want to take.

“This issue of moped crime is one that is of concern for people.”

Additional reporting by Press Association