So, you catch a 'thief'...

Something's been playing on my mind since last week

I was cutting through from the one way bit, top of Tott. Court Rd from Euston Rd, past the Hospital. Clocked a fella going like the clappers with a hacksaw on the lock of a bike on the bike rack.
I slowed down a bit, tried getting a good look and carried on past. Then I stopped and went back...
I asked him if it was his bike to which he replied calmly, 'Yeah, lost my key somewhere'. I replied 'OK mate, just checking, loads of bike thieves around at the mo, good luck with it'
Thing is, he had his coat, bag and helmet next to him on the floor(decoy, red herring?) but the thing that got the alarm bells ringing was he had a big chunky set of plyers and obviously the hacksaw. Don't know about you, but who the hell cycles around with big old plyers and a fuck off hacksaw? He also looked a tad grubby and was Irish(gypsy/traveller type)
See, what the hell do you do in that situation.....?

Racist!

....See, what the hell do you do in that situation.....?

God Knows.
I asked a community police officer to ask him what he was up to when i saw something similar happening. Not sure how much help that was in the end.

Chris

OK, I should've said he looked more like a fairgroundworker - who are predominantly(from my experience) Irish

Quality of bike?

must have been a thief as poorer people don't own their own bikes.... bikes are often the only mode of transport for poorer people......how about:

"if it's your bike, you won't mind while I just call the police then?"

what kind of bike was it?

I don't know. I guess the answer is find/call a police officer and ask them to intervene.
But then I saw someone about to hacksaw a lock and did nothing. A whole host of thoughts ran through my head and in the end I thought he looked like he could be genuine so I did nothing. As soon as I got back to the office I wished i'd done something. In this case he looked a completely approachable person. But thats the thing isn't it, why no thieves ever get stopped, because no one wants to take the risk of being stabbed or whatever by the thief. You only ever get stories in the paper of some father who stood up to some trouble making youths and got killed for his effort. If there are events of sucess they need to be reported too.

And now to derail the thread. What if some thief were to add a lock to your bike while you we're at work, where do you get something to cut your bike free and how do you prove to the police it is your bike you are freeing. Or perhaps you don't need to prove anything because you'll never be challenged.

It was a bog standard hybrid type thing, black. Looked like a Marin, Ridgeback, Sirrus kinda bike. Couldn't see properly as he was right up close in between all the other bikes

Actually, as I was riding off he did actually say "If I was a thief, would I be doing it in broad daylight?" To which I shouted "Best time, cos people* will* think it's yours!"

Dunno, just seemed well dodgy....

its a tough one...I was down at the polo court one time, playing some basketball...this guy cruises past on a Specialised Allez road bike...he offered it to sell it for a v. low price, he mispronunciated the name of the bike (calling it an All-ease, not an All-ay)...he didn't look like a cyclist (stupid comment I know, but...) and he did look like a bit of a scriff...to me it seemed obviously stolen...was in the middle of a game, so didn't really stop and think what to do, but did later that day...I didn't know what to do in that situation, and wouldn't have known what to do in yours Pistanator...would be interested in the forums guidance on this one too

Peace

Interesting one. To change the path of the discussion slightly again: there's a bike locked outside my flat which hasn't moved in two months. I've left a note on it with my number saying "This looks like it has been abandoned, give me a ring if you'd like me to take it off your hands".

If the note or bike haven't moved in another month I'm going to be angle grinding it to better use.

But I've been thinking about when to do it, and what I'd say to anyone who challenged me. In a way, I'd like to get the council to do it then give me the bike, but I just can't see that happening. Sunday mornings seem like a good bet, but the neighbours might be annoyed at the noise. A rainy day might be better as there would be fewer people on the street to interfere.

Good for you for asking the guy, it's definitely better than doing nothing at all.

If everyone had the following message painted on their bike, then it would be easy:

"If you witness someone attempting to steal this bike, call..."

Saw this in Victoria last weekend:

I actually caught a guy trying to wrench off my lock from my bike, when I'd popped into the Victoria Street McDs for fries. When I came out he was still having a go....so I lamped him one, unlocked my bike and left. You did the right thing though. Now the cnut will think twice before being so blatant.

ha! Love it!

Interesting one. To change the path of the discussion slightly again: there's a bike locked outside my flat which hasn't moved in two months. I've left a note on it with my number saying "This looks like it has been abandoned, give me a ring if you'd like me to take it off your hands".

If the note or bike haven't moved in another month I'm going to be angle grinding it to better use.

But I've been thinking about when to do it, and what I'd say to anyone who challenged me. In a way, I'd like to get the council to do it then give me the bike, but I just can't see that happening. Sunday mornings seem like a good bet, but the neighbours might be annoyed at the noise. A rainy day might be better as there would be fewer people on the street to interfere.

i don't know where you live and what your neighbors are like but if this was on my road i would explain the situation to my neighbors...they will probably encourage it.you know how much of an eyesore a locked bike is.

but if this was on my road i would explain the situation to my neighbors... you know how much of an eyesore a locked bike is.

oooh, listen to aidan bouquet!

"Thing is, he had his coat, bag and helmet next to him on the floor..."

Surely this is not a bike thief. Might be fine as a decoy to you, but if the owner turns up, how is he going to leg it with his stuff lying around. He'll end up getting twatted a la Grandeanse ^up there & losing his 'decoy' stuff.

I vote genuine.

"Thing is, he had his coat, bag and helmet next to him on the floor..."

Surely this is not a bike thief. Might be fine as a decoy to you, but if the owner turns up, how is he going to leg it with his stuff lying around. He'll end up getting twatted a la Grandeanse ^up there & losing his 'decoy' stuff.

I vote genuine.

Valid point but that's the grey area. He may well have been genuine and gone back to work to fetch a set of plyers and hacksaw but I find it hard to believe that these sort of items are 'just kept at work'(unless a builder/chippy/sparky etc).
Also, as mentioned, I don't know cyclists that carry a 9/10inch set of plyers and 10/12inch hacksaw in their bag

I'm not sure its that hard to grab your bag of tools and start running. You could leave the helmet because some people lock them to their bikes, and not all of them very well, so a replacement wouldn't be hard to come by if you are a thief. So i'm not convinced it's so clear cut a genuine situation.

Say "I'm going to ring the police and you can explain to them how you can prove it's your bike". If they leg it / stab you then they're a thief (or just very easily angered). If they're still hanging around then it's probably theirs and you can be on your way.

You could go up to him and say, "That's my bike, what the fuck are you doing?!"
If he gets defensive, then he's nicking it, if he looks confused, it's his.

You could go up to him and say, "That's my bike, what the fuck are you doing?!"
If he gets defensive, then he's nicking it, if he looks confused, it's his.

ahhh!!

it sounds like a genuine situation to me, too much stuff for a fast get-away.

OK, I should've said he looked more like a fairgroundworker - who are predominantly(from my experience) Irish

So what you saying, people who work at fairs are thieves, the Irish are thieves, anyone who looks like either of the above is reasonably assumed to be a thief? Might be being a bit touchy here, I am from an Irish family though....

But if you said he was black, you would be rightly slated as a racist. I don't see the difference.