Brazen moment thieves try to steal scooter using angle grinder on yet another night of crime in London

• The attempted theft took place at Earlsfield in south London last night

This is the moment brazen thieves tried to steal a scooter using an angle grinder in yet another night in London.

One crook leans over and uses the power tool in an attempt to cut through the lock while one accomplice stands near him watching and another lights up the scene with his motorcycle lights. 

The gang, who all have their faces covered with motorcycle helmets, tried to steal the scooter from a quiet residential street last night in Earlsfield, south London.

CCTV footage from the scene shows sparks flying as the tool tries to slice through the scooter’s lock.

Another video from a lower angle shows the bumbling thieves failing to cut the lock with the heavy machinery. 

But despite the best efforts of the thieves, after 25 seconds of cutting there is a loud clash of metal as something is dropped which apparently scares them – causing them all to flee without the scooter. 

The Met Police has been approached for comment.

This incident is the most recent in a series of bold bike and scooter thefts in London using power tools. 

Earlier this month another angle-grinder powered theft involved a crook using one to snap through a bike lock in just two seconds.

They were captured on video pulling out a the cordless power tool and shamelessly stealing the bike on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, east London.

Cordless angle grinders are available to buy for as little as £75. 

A similar theft occurred in January last year when a group of thugs used an angle grinder to steal a commuter’s bike outside a busy rail station in broad daylight.

READ MORE: Beware, the rise of the Brompton muggers: Why terrified cyclists are ditching the brand and other high-end bikes as violent gangs stalk parks hunting for riders

In the footage, taken at Borough Green and Wrotham Station in Borough Green, Kent, the thieves can be seen taking a minute to grind off the chain.

They then try to escape with the bike but the lock gets stuck in its spokes.

One of them tries to ride it but the chain appears to have come off and he ends up running up the hill pushing it.

Meanwhile a bystander calls the police. Others said that the crooks were ‘not exactly the Krays’.

The problem has become so bad that in February the Met Police warned that Albanian gangs were stealing expensive bikes from the streets of the UK before sending them to Russia to be sold.

Cycling groups said the criminals have a ‘list’ of expensive makes to target, including those made by S-Works and Pinarello.

Brompton bikes – which range in price from £899 to £4,180 – are also being targeted to such an extent that rentals have declined amid growing fears they make users a target, a cycling chief told MailOnline at the time.