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Clockwise
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/moment-hammerwielding-moped-gang-scuppered-by-hero-lorry-driver-in-central-london-a3688951.html
I've been interested in this for a few years since in the mid-noughties there was a crime spree in Islington along a busy cycle route in which riders (well, more precisely, pillions) using stolen mopeds would try to snatch pedal cyclists' pannier bags (and often succeeded). They rode up alongside the cyclist and tore at panniers. These were often Ortlieb panniers that easily sheared off, although in at least one case I can remember they didn't and the cyclist was brought down. The moped riders then sped off. As many office workers carried laptops in their panniers the thieves often got that. I used to wonder what they might do with all the (in themselves quite valuable) Ortliebs.
It took the police a long time to catch the thieves, even though they knew where their lock-up was, but they eventually did it and it went quiet again. I think they had trouble getting the pursuit authorised and had to get special off-road motorbikes because of all the traffic calming in the area.
The next thing I remember is when the phone snatching started, 2008 in the area I worked in at the time. Some colleagues had theirs snatched, and I think that was even before 'smart'phones. That seems to have continued to the present day and there were a lot of stories about it in the papers a while ago, perhaps fewer now that potential victims have got wise to it.
Obviously, it's been all over the press but I thought a thread about it might not be amiss.