BBC correspondent’s solar-powered news bike stolen in The Hague
A solar-powered cargo bike used as a mobile newsroom by BBC correspondent Anna Holligan was stolen last week outside her home in The Hague, despite being locked twice. The electric bakfiets, worth nearly 5,000 euros, had become central to both her reporting and daily life. “It’s like losing a friend,” she wrote in an article for the BBC.
Holligan has reported from the Netherlands since 2011, covering Dutch and European news, climate, and social change. Her mobile studio — equipped with a laptop, camera, and coffee maker — was inspired by her daughter asking why she couldn’t “just do the news now” on the way to school. The setup allowed her to report live from any location at any time. Holligan also clarified that she paid for the bike herself, not the BBC or British taxpayers.
“I ran down the stairs and was overwhelmed by disbelief,” she wrote about discovering the bike was gone. In an Instagram video, she addressed the thief: “You didn’t just steal our bike. You made our world smaller.”
She filed a police report, but the investigation was closed due to a lack of evidence. Still, she praised the officers’ empathy: “They treated the case like I’d lost a pet.” Holligan said only the Dutch understand the emotional impact of losing a bike. “It shows how Dutch I’ve become,” she told NOS.
Bicycle thefts in the Netherlands have risen sharply. In 2024, 86,000 stolen bikes were reported, though the true number is likely higher. Police point to the growing popularity and value of e-bikes as a key factor.
