ANYONE who fails to lock their hired Beryl bike at the end of a ride will be fined under a new policy from the scheme’s provider.

From today Beryl have introduced a flat £10 fine, which will be issued to accounts if people forget to lock their bike when they finished using it.

This move comes after frequent anti-social behaviour issues involving the hire bikes since they were rolled out across Bournemouth and Poole earlier this year.

As previously reported, damaged or stolen Beryl Bikes worth more than £15,000 had been recovered in a police operation across the Bournemouth and Poole area.

Last month, the firm carried out an amnesty initiative, allowing anyone with a Beryl Bike in their possession to return it to their closest bay without punishment.

Now Beryl have launched a penalty measure in their latest attempt to crackdown on crime.

They also say the fine will deliver a cap, which prevents rider’s from accumulating a significant sum of money if they accidentally leave a bike unlocked at the end of their session.

A statement emailed to Beryl users explained the £10 fine for failing to lock the bike. It said: “ At the end of a ride, you must lock your bike to end the journey. Unlocked bikes are vulnerable to being stolen or damaged, and a bike that is still “hired” can’t be used by another rider, affecting the availability of bikes in your city.

“In some cases, we’ve seen that riders forget to lock the bike at the end of their ride.

“Currently when this happens, our system continues to charge the rider’s account until the bike is locked, and this can accumulate to a significant amount of money. Although it’s the rider’s responsibility to lock the bike, we don’t want our riders to suffer financial hardship.

“Our updated terms mean that if you fail to lock a bike at the end of a journey, you will be charged a flat £10 fine. The fine covers the cost of sending our local team out to lock the bike, and reflects the increased risk of damage to the bike while it’s unlocked and unattended.”

Anyone who realises they have forgotten to lock a bike, or believes they have locked it and did not receive an end of journey summary on the mobile app, is advised to get in touch with Beryl’s customer support team through the in-app chat.