A Southampton man has expressed frustration about Police's alleged apathy toward reports of stolen motor cycles.

And he told The Royal Gazette he would like to know why the Police are asking the community to help them if they are going to ignore information provided by the public.

Mountain biker Mr. Peter Matcham, who has been riding his bike along the railway trail in Southampton and Somerset for the past year, said he repeatedly found motor cycles he thought were stolen and reported them to the Police.

However, he said, Police seemed to be unwilling to act on his information.

Mr. Matcham said he called Police three weeks ago and told them there was a Honda City Express on the railway trail near Scenic Heights in Southampton.

He said he assumed the Police would follow it up. But the motor cycle -- license plate number 509T -- was still there last weekend.

Mr. Matcham said a Somerset-based Police officer told him to contact Cycle Squad when he reported an abandoned cycle.

Mr. Matcham said the Police must be able to communicate between their departments and he therefore questioned why was it necessary for him to contact the Cycle Squad.

He said he told Police about a "cycle graveyard'' near Sunnyside Park in Southampton which contained approximately 20 motor cycles, including one that had been reported stolen three to four hours before he called.

Police came and picked up that particular cycle, but left the others, he said, adding that Police asked him to come back the next day to show them the location of the other motorcycles.

The location, Mr. Matcham said, was spread out over approximately two acres and the Police officers could have found them just as easily as he had.

He said he also discovered another motor cycle in good condition on September 2.

It had not been stripped yet, Mr. Matcham explained, so he called the Police immediately.

But a Police officer told him the Police Service had a manpower problem and they would deal with it when they could.

The motor cycle -- now stripped of its parts -- was still in the same spot on September 12, Mr. Matcham said.

When contacted about the allegations, Police spokesman P.c. Gary Venning told The Royal Gazette that the Police do attempt to act on information they receive regarding cycles.

But he said there could sometimes be a delay when transport for the cycles was not immediately available.

Another problem, P.c. Venning said, was that cycles could be difficult to find when they were in the bushes along the railway trail.

Police would only pick up cycles that had been reported stolen, P.c. Venning added. People would sometimes abandon their old cycles and it was not the responsibility of the Police to pick these up.

If members of the public find a cycle they believe to be stolen, they should contact the Cycle Squad directly on 299-4211, he said. If there was a problem contacting someone in Cycle Squad, then people should call a Police station.