This morning's commute and other commuting stories

well, at 51, never far from one's mind. I'm still too 'brown M&Ms' about it all to put anything into action.

My colleague got her Brompton nicked while she was riding it. Gray's Inn Road, 8am Wednesday morning, 3 scooters surround her, guy on pillion grabs the bars, she falls off and they accelerate off with the bike. Luckily she only had a few scrapes, no serious injury. Pretty scary & shocking though. Be careful out there.

Jeez - that's pretty rough. Not much you can do in that situation.

Hugely shocking. Rush hour, too.

She seemed remarkably sanguine about the whole thing. Been commuting on Boris bikes for the rest of the week until insurance pay out.

That's astonishing. Brazen as fuck

Shiiiit

Even with what you can do any sort of stopping and fighting with a gang who are doing that will almost certainly result in weapons coming out.

@el_presidente support your colleague if you can, might not be showing it but that sort of thing stays with you and something reminding them of it while riding might trigger them freezing or going into a panic or just making some weird decisions, I'd change route for sure just as riding past the same place wouldn't sit well for me

I have heard of things like happening once or twice before, but they've always been rare. So lucky she wasn't hurt worse. I just hope it doesn't start a trend. I wonder if this is easier to do to someone on a folder (or, perhaps, a step-through frame) rather than a full-size bike, and a lack of foot retention is probably required, too.

Completely agree. I can't even imagine this happening to my gf. She'd be in absolute bits.

This has defo been on the rise recently, especially among roadies on expensive bikes. police arent allowed to chase them atm if they're on mopeds...too "dangerous" for the criminal!

Wasn't there a spate of this around DeBeauvoir about 4 years ago? They caught a few kids who were snatching bikes and banged em up and the spate stopped...

They'd be out now. This trend alongside the acid throwing thing is really hairy.

Yeah sounds right, the acid things is so fucked up. Particuarly as the pay off seems so low. To potentially disfigure someone for life for a couple hundred pounds at most... Terriblw to think someone is happy to do that

police arent allowed to chase them atm if they're on mopeds...too "dangerous" for the criminal!

I call batshit. Citation?

Police do chase moped riders (in some circumstances) but the offenders have developed a tactic of removing their helmets which then makes it too dangerous for the chase to continue.

Google Henry Hicks for more info on this.

You love pulling the 'citation needed' card! Ha! There was a whole feature on policing-vs-safety a while back, that the risk of serious injury was too high if the 'ped rider was without a helmet. As @ChasnotRobert says, search engines are your friend.

Pretty insane trailer was blocking my preferred route today, had to stop and photo.

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Glider trailer?

Wouldn't fancy reversing it!

Dude in a work van with branding all over it dangerously undertook me this morning. Called him out and he apologised so hopefully won't do it again. Both left with a cheery thumbs up which was nice.

I did some googling.

The IPCC has said that some officers are unilaterally reluctant to chase moped riders due to a worry about complaints being levied against them, as in the death of Henry Hicks. But, they go on to say that this is not the official line and that even tactical collisions are allowed with appropriate authorization.

So, when @userwhoeverthefuck stated that police are not "allowed" to chase them, he was not being that accurate.

I thought I'd have a nice quiet commute today, going in after 9 with light drizzle. Instead I got:

• cut up at a light turning green by a cyclist who started behind me on my right and accelerated to go across to my left as we set off
  
• pushed out of the way in the ASL at the bottom of Margery Street by a moped rider shouting 'I'm gonna bust through this red light'
  
• turning right from the cycle track onto Pakenham St, a car waiting on Wren Street pulled out into the oncoming lane - my lane.
  
  

Wtf was wrong with people this morning?

@Spxtz monday ennit

@mashton But you know when any @userwhoever appears, they must be an expert cos it's the rules.

@c00ps I have no idea how they got it so perfectly close to the pavement. Incredible and inconvenient in equal measures.

Seemed to be a lot of people over dressed in wet weather gear.

Winter's coming

Short sleeve Gabba + PT thermal bib shorts + overshoes

cosy/10