Stolen bikes

A friend of mine had his Cannondale stolen and made a lot of noise online about it. He was contacted by someone who "fixes up bikes" offering it for a finders fee. It all sounded very suspect, a meeting at a train station with the guy's "brother". The other "brother" then showed up with the bike - he was very similar to the person caught on CCTV snipping the lock. My friend managed to get it back on the promise of bank transferring a reward, but obviously never did. I think the combo of making it very public and it also being a huge, cheap bike (for someone who's 6ft5) made it tough to move on.

Anyway interesting story and thought it related to @swistak ' s experience. Basically a ransom, with a minor theft (his wheels were exchanged for some shite ones)

Hi all, my Decathlon Triban 520 was stolen yesterday from outside the Jobcentre on 1 Maygood Street, Islington N1 0EX. It's a road bike (unusually, it has flat bars) with a black and red frame. The bottom tube has a bottle cage but otherwise no modifications as it was brand new - barely 3 weeks old. I'm absolutely devastated and would be so grateful if anyone had any leads. The bike and its frame number have been reported stolen to the police and on Bike Register.

£100 reward.

+Kieran_Ferguson_PC_2224T tagging you directly in case you are able to help at all with this. I would be eternally grateful.

Hi Amol,

So far, looks like you've done everything right so far. Sadly, the cycle task force no longer exists and I've moved on to other things, but am happy to offer advice where I can. I can't however, tread all over someone else's investigation as I wouldn't be able to take it on in my current role.

Bike register is excellent, but only so long as it is checked by someone down the line.

Sadly, as is so often the case these days, the guys investigating these offences are stretched pretty thin so anything you can do to contribute to the investigation would be good. I would assume there is CCTV at the venue and I would suggest that if you are passing, have a look to see if there is a camera and if so, does it cover where you locked you bike. If so, grab a name and phone number for the person who would be able to view/show the CCTV to the police and make them aware of the time and date it was stolen. This will help to preserve the footage if it is on a 28 day loop or similar and also assist the OIC by cutting down some leg work.

Of course, catching the thief is unlikely to recover your bike as they tend to be turned around pretty quick. Keep an eye on all the usual sites like gumtree/ebay/shpock/facebook and remember that it's not uncommon for people to buy a bike from say Brick Lane and then re-sell it within a few days so the person who has your bike may not be the person who has it for sale.

Make sure the officer who is investigating your crime has the reference number for Bike Register because this can be a good way of seeing who has been checking your bike frame number against the register.

Finally, please be aware that some of these guys do carry weapons and will often turn up in groups to sell the bikes on so I have to advise against arranging a meet. Leave that to the police. However, I clearly can't stop you but please be careful.

If you have any questions you need answering, please let me know.

Some unlikely but good news:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-48136512

Kieran, thank you so much for your incredibly detailed advice even though it is not your role anymore. I will make sure to take the steps you've mentioned.

As a follow-up, if my bike were to turn up on Gumtree/similar websites, how would you advise I handle it through the police? I ask because I have heard many stories where people said the police did/could not act due to insufficient evidence and I wondered what, in your experience, is needed.

Sadly, cycle crime does not fall under the Metropolitan Police or MOPAC priorities and as such does not receive specific funding. This means that it falls to neighbourhood and response team officers who are often unable to dedicate the time to investigate or the staff/skills to respond to the meeting place due to workloads and commitments.
With regard the evidence, each case is obviously different and I've personally had 2 occasions where the victim swore blind the bike for sale was theirs, I've set up a meet, inspected the bike and found them to be a different bike (frame number). Of course, I've looked at the photos of the bike for sale and also formed the opinion that the bike could be theirs, considered the timing/location of the sale and researched the seller as far as is possible. A lot of what we did was possible down to the relationships built up with platforms such as Gumtree which takes endless meetings and information sharing protocols which most officers just will not have the time to do.

My advice always has to be, leave meeting any seller to the police. I simply can't advise anything else. The legislation however for the police arranging to act as a buyer is covered under RIPA (google it) and carries a high degree of specialisation to use.

If you do arrange to meet the seller, tell the officer investigating the offence, they may be able to sort something out but they will probably tell you the same thing - don't meet the seller.

I do believe that we all have a part to play in reducing this sort of crime, be it as a buyer refusing to buy suspicious bikes, an owner effectively locking and marking the bike or as a victim taking some proactive steps to look for CCTV or visit forums such as this. Of course, the Police (whom we all pay for with our various taxes) are ultimately charged with preventing and investigating crime but with the changing landscape of modern life and crime, not all offences are equal.

Thanks for posting on here and providing context.

@hippy, @velocio, maybe make the below part of the first post on this thread?

Did you report the burglary?

Have you passed all the information mentioned above to the officer who is investigating your theft?
How long has it been since the bike was stolen and since this person contacted you?

(feel free to PM me rather than start a long conversation here but for the benefit of other forum users:)

Take screen shots of every interaction with the person who called (you will need to provide the exact time you were called as well as your telephone number and mobile phone provider) this will enable a request to be sent to the phone company to release details of the telephone number/subscriber who called you, however, as with many things, it's never as simple as it sounds.

I can't go into too much detail as to what can or cannot be requested but it's the first thing I would do if I were to be assigned this crime.

It is (in my opinion) likely that the person who called you bought the bike in good faith (or why would he call at all) but now has gotten cold feet as to contacting you again. The legislation around property (TORT) law is complex, but it does provide a defense of acting in good faith and this would result in the requirement for you to take the person to civil court. Sadly, it's another area in which the victims of crime are let down. It's a fine line to walk to protect people from malicious claims and to support real victims. After all, the person who paid cash for your bike is likely to be a victim of the person from whom he bought the bike.
I have persuaded people to return bikes, though this really oversteps my role and the official line is to advise them to take out a civil action if there is insufficient evidence to bring charges and we will provide details of the other party once requested through the proper channels.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it before (and unrelated to your case)

Please make a note of your frame number, register it with as many property marking sites as possible. Take photographs of your bike after any significant modifications (perhaps not if you change a bottom bracket) and don't skimp on locks. With regard the frame number, I compare it in part to reporting your car stolen. If I were working in the front office of my local police station (Stoke Newington when I joined) and someone came in to report their car stolen and described it as, "a blue one, with gears" I'm not sure I'd be confident we would ever identify it in a month of Sundays and I'd ask them to return with some more details. Bikes are no different. With no frame number, it would take an officer with a knowledge of component parts to identify a bike (RIP the cycle task force) which cannot be expected of a non cyclist beyond the make and model.

Needs a tldr

Yeah, I do waffle on a bit!

Thanks, Arvy. There is still this thread:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/176548/

I've run it past Kieran before and have just updated it to reflect the current situation of the Cycle Task Force(s) having been disbanded. I've also added text from Kieran to it in the past.
I don't think there's new info in his more recent posts.

Having said that, more people read this thread, so perhaps it might make sense to merge them (but I think that's still laborious).

@roboto just had his bike stolen, please keep a lookout - I am also in Leyton so if anyone sees it about get in touch!

deets ---->

London E10 (or anywhere) peeps. Please keep your eyes peeled for this. Exactly as pictured but with an added NLTCBMBC fendor bendor mudguard and fabric reader light. Great timing before tomorrow’s event, I don’t have time for this shit...

52cm Cannondale CAAD12 in black with grey forks.
Sram 1x groupset (force/rival mix)
Fabric scoop team edition saddle
PRO Vibe carbon bars with Zipp SL stem
Spin on These Farbot wheels
Wahoo cadence and speed sensors and bolt mount
Shimano carbon pedals

Let me know if you or anyone sees it about. Throw a lock on it, get in touch etc.

<----steed

Thanks John, if anyone sees it. Let me know or throw a d-lock at their head.

Shit news. As usual--where was it stolen from, i.e. shed or street?

One of the guys from Restrap has had his bike nicked in Bristol, unlikely anyone will see it but thought I’d share in case.

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Has anyone lost a Geoff Butler frame, I say frame but I’m sure it was a full bike but I found it with just the chain and crank left cheers k

Yeah my dad had his nicked in Ealing a few months ago

Can you pm me with any info and hopefully this is it cheers

Lifted from a 2nd floor balcony (about 10-12m above road level with no clear way of climbing up the building) in E10. I've put in a request for CCTV, so hopefully I'll find something.

That reminds me of how @playswellwithotters 's bike was stolen a few years ago, although I think in his case it was from the fourth or fifth floor (?).

Hope the CCTV is useful.

Spotted this on eBay, it’s being sold by cash converters in Stratford so it’s very likely to have been removed with out the owners permission.

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@Skülly anything to do with you?

I’m a bit shit, but not that ^ shit.

ha

fwiw for those who might like to try to make their saddle less nickable, I have some small deep stamp letters & numbers that I can put a phone number or postcode into the hide of a brooks etc.as well as the less identifiable decorative initials etc

Ha, I have never seen your work, thought it could have been an early example..