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Thanks for the long reply. I can't seem to see my original post. I've gone to the most recent page on this thread and my post isn't there. How do I view the original post and edit it? iPhones naturally save photos as HEIC. I can covert and reupload as JPEG. But you're saying only some of them haven't uploaded or all of them? I've tried to upload them again in this reply. But please advise how I can edit my original post and rey-load them. Or should I re post this?
As for the CCTV in Newham, this won't affect Westfield.
As for the location, yes that's the one. Although it was parked up slightly further in that image. There's an entrance to a building you can see to the side of the elevator. My bike was parked right there against the guardrail for pedestrians. It should be clear in my images that I was referring to the bars on the guardrail being bent. Not the lock. The lock, which you should be able to see in the photos I uploaded, was secure and untouched.
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JamesCooper
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Thanks for the long reply. I can't seem to see my original post. I've gone to the most recent page on this thread and my post isn't there. How do I view the original post and edit it? iPhones naturally save photos as HEIC. I can covert and reupload as JPEG. But you're saying only some of them haven't uploaded or all of them? I've tried to upload them again in this reply. But please advise how I can edit my original post and rey-load them. Or should I re post this?
Your post may be on the previous page--use the page navigation at the bottom. You can also click on your username to go to your profile. If you click on the number of comments you have there, you'll see all your posts.
Four of your pictures uploaded earlier, I just couldn't view them except for one. I was hoping for clearer pictures, but appreciate these may be all you've got. It's worth being aware that the upload facility is a little temperamental and you need to check if they're displayed; if not, you need to try several times until it works. Just keep clicking on 'Edit' and uploading them again. It'll work eventually. (I'm not suggesting that's a priority for you right now. We've all seen the aftermath of thefts many times.)
As for the location, yes that's the one. Although it was parked up slightly further in that image. There's an entrance to a building you can see to the side of the elevator. My bike was parked right there against the guardrail for pedestrians. It should be clear in my images that I was referring to the bars on the guardrail being bent. Not the lock. The lock, which you should be able to see in the photos I uploaded, was secure and untouched.
Thanks, I couldn't tell because I didn't see any of the images of the scene of the theft. Was your lock around the frame? If they went to the trouble of cutting the guardrail, they would not normally leave the lock there but remove it in the safety of their own workshop. Odd.
Have you contacted Westfield itself?
https://uk.westfield.com/stratfordcity/centre-info/contact-us
I'm not sure that's going to help, as strangely enough they don't seem to have any contact for security there (perhaps deliberately, who knows). They'll probably refer you back to the police, so it may be a futile call, but there is at least a chance you might get someone useful on the end of a phone.
Oliver Schick
Thanks for the report, James. Clearly a distressing experience, and I hope you get luckier soon, perhaps if the forum manages to put a bike together for you.
Seconding Señor Bear's request for better pictures. I can't see three of your pictures at all, as they are in the Apple-proprietary format HEIC.
On the theft itself:
[snip and re-arrange]
I take it that it was here that you left it?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5427288,-0.0040168,2a,80.3y,323.09h,89.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sni9fEpra-1fh-06PGY9enA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
My suspicion would be that at the moment thieves are able to make creative use of the recommendation to wear face masks, making it largely impossible to use CCTV for clues as to their identity. That's not to excuse the police response, by the way, but you should never rely on CCTV for security. As for whether or not the police actually did review the CCTV footage, I found this report from February:
https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/plaistow-cctv-down-ahead-of-newham-wide-refurb-1-6506938
I can't find a report on whether or not the work was completed before the crisis hit. (It may well have been continued in spite of it, of course.) If it was, it is likely that the police would be able to review the footage very quickly. If the work wasn't completed, it could also be the case that at least the public camera may still have been out of action. I don't expect that the Westfield cameras will be affected by this. Since it is a comparatively new development, I expect that there will be some level of cooperation with the police, i.e. an agreement to share CCTV quickly and easily. That's just speculation, though. You could ask the police about what the case actually was with it, but as I say, CCTV would most likely not be crucial here.
When you say 'the rail bar had been bent', do you mean the bar of the stand (assuming ylou locked your bike to one of the Sheffield stands there) or the lock?
If the former, presumably it had been cut, too? Or did it look as if it was levered? Thieves would normally have to use something like an angle grinder for this and this cannot fail but to attract attention, so really if anyone was around, someone might have called the police.
If you mean your lock was bent, and it wasn't cut, then I, too, can't see on the face of it how they would have been able to remove the bike from it, assuming you'd locked the bike correctly? Was the stand loose in the ground?
If the thieves damaged the stand, then there may have been witnesses, and you could look for them by means of a notice.
Thieves these days very rarely offer stolen bikes for sale to shops. It used to happen a lot (and I know of shops that were suspected or even convicted of handling stolen goods, including one that's still in operation), but not so much in recent years. As you may have read in other threads, bikes often show up at markets, e.g. Brick Lane or Nine Elms. Most markets are closed, of course, but some are open (Stoke Newington Farmers' Market is, for example), but as there must be far fewer than 'normal' that are open where bikes can be sold, you might be able to visit them. I'm afraid I don't know where to look to find that information; perhaps someone else can help. If there are currently no markets in operation where bikes can be sold, perhaps bikes these thieves are taking are being shipped elsewhere or kept somewhere.
None of this is very hopeful, but perhaps there are some things you can do in addition. Good luck, and with any luck the forum can get a bike together for you.