Would I be breaking the law?

there is an old road bike locked up at my uni, it has been in the same place with two flat tyres for two months and im thinking about going down at night and sawing the lock off.

its got a very rusty chain and needs some tlc but i have a mate who is in need of a bike and wants a road bike.
what do you think about contacting the uni's security guys and asking them about it, but i think they will just tell me to piss off and think im weird?

any pointers?

just ask mate, if the bike is there much longer it will just be off to the dump with it.

I would just ask, otherwise you might find yourself with a criminal record. - If you are caught sawing off the lock of a bike you don't own under cover of darkness it might look bad.

If you do it, do it naked and grease your whole body up with Vaseline™, security/police are less likely to catch you if they cannot get a decent purchase on your body.

or tell them it's yours but have lost the key, and ask what would they reccomend for releasing it...

Kelvin or tell them it's yours but have lost the key, and ask what would they reccomend for releasing it...

That would be fraudulent (you would have acquired it through criminal deception) - and as any lawyer would tell you, fraud is seen as a worse crime in British law than the action of theft - if you are going down the crime route, like I said, grease up and just steal it.

Personally would just ask.

Heed their advice, there was a 531 framed raleigh i had my eye on for a long time. waited till the last day and watched the owner wheel it off. I gave him a disapproving shake of the head - the bike had no chain, 2 flat tyres and 1 brake by this point after arriving in relatively good condition.

On the plus side i just bagged a 32 h phil wood rear hub off the bay for £65.59! :)

asm Heed their advice, there was a 531 framed raleigh i had my eye on for a long time. waited till the last day and watched the owner wheel it off. I gave him a disapproving shake of the head - the bike had no chain, 2 flat tyres and 1 brake by this point after arriving in relatively good condition.

Perhaps the guy was nicking it, was he naked and covered in vaseline?

Hey now that you mention it, he was wearing fingerless gloves, a black and white striped shirt and a mask over his eyes....

asm Hey now that you mention it, he was wearing fingerless gloves, a black and white striped shirt and a mask over his eyes....

Naah, can't have been a thief, he wasn't carrying the bike off in a big hessian bag marked "swag"

Thank god for that then!

It was probably just a French mime artist.

im gonna contact campus security tomorrow, sorted!

I dunno, two months isn't that long, I can imagine lots of people would leave their bike around for that long, thinking "yeah, I'm gonna fix that puncture next week".

yeah true. i was thinking the same but the chain is so rusty im not sure it could even be ridden?

my flatmate left her bike outside hyde park for 4 months. still there. thanks guys :)

You could put a sign on the bike saying something like "If this is your bike, and you don't want it anymore, I will give you a tenner for it" or something. If it is someone's unwanted bike you could all be happy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYn5hxeFt10