Stolen Bike Imperial College!

it worked for me, though i did write a letter every day for 3 months. i find it always works better and faster if you CC some ones boss when you write them, and what ever regulatory agency has oversight.

So has someone bought the bike or what?

You could post this story on the road cycling UK forum there's a plod on there who might be able to do sommat.

there are police that have responded to him, but he keeps on getting passed on to different plods.

Could you let Boris know about the Police inaction? He's a cycling nut up for election whcih might make him more receptive, and it would be good press for him to sort this out and make an example of the thieving scrote.

FWIW, I got this note from a mate - one for the justice squad !!!

"I was in Southwark for an opticians appointment this afternoon. Left my bike locked up outside the office building I was visiting with a regular Chubb lock & wire chain to one of those steel "n" shaped things for locking bikes to. An hour or so later I come out to find my bike has a 2nd lock on it only this one is a seriously industrial motorbike with a chain like you'd find on a boat anchor. Clearly the owner of the lock was planning to return later to my immobilised bike, remove his lock, snip my lock and have away with my bike. I was livid!

Having ascertained that it wasn't someone from the opticians who objected to my bike parking I went to the local police station to report the incident & hopefully get them to sort it out. Unsurprisingly Mr Plod couldn't give a monkeys. Next I went to a local motor factors to borrow some bolt croppers. They wouldn't lend me some but would sell me a pair of the biggest, ugliest set of nail clippers you can imagine. With my wallet £17 lighter and about 20kg of bolt cropper in hand I return to the bike.

First attempts are not positive. Despite 3ft of leverage the chain is barely scratched by the croppers and the teeth are bent out of line. At this point I'm feeling really p1ssed off at the thought of loosing the bike & walking back to the office having spent money on a useless lump of iron. The other option is to attack the paddle lock. It's about the size of a kitchen matchbox and has a hardened steel loop. Still, I can mangle the plastic coating and make it difficult for the crim to get to the locking mechanism with the key. And it might make me feel better.

With the case chewed off the lock body underneath isn't so impressive looking - the case is cast in two halves out of the sort of metal that they make dinky toys out of. Another few minutes with the croppers and it's in bits and I have a liberated bike!!! I also have 4ft of motorbike chain and the satisfaction that a scumbag not too far away is out of pocket to a not inconsiderable degree.

Surprisingly, during the 15 or so minutes it took me to do this no-one passing by said anything. Is it any wonder bikes get nicked? "

If I were a bike thief, I'd say the £230 on this was a bargain that could be re-couped in no time:
Cordless Angle Grinder.

If they're going to start dropping locks on our bikes, and if it happens a couple more times... we should whip-round, buy one of those and leave it on-call for whenever an emergency arises.

phones still off

are you sure the opticians didn't just fuck up your prescription making you think you lock was bigger ;) perhaps not.

i would have been tempted to just somewhere nearby and wait for the fucker to come back. introduce him to your new 20kg friend

You could be waiting ages though. They might come back at 5am for all you know.

boris yeltsin has been e-mailed, see what he will do!

You could be waiting ages though. They might come back at 5am for all you know.

i'd have time. i don't go anywhere without the bike. and i mean anywhere.