Stolen bike returned

A couple of weeks ago, I spent all day Sunday doing up my old Specialised geared bike for my missus. The following night she went out, locked it to a dustbin outside a mate's house on Goldhawk Rd at 9pm and when she returned 30 mins later the bike, lock and bin had been nicked. Gutted. (Best forum suggestion at the time: 'have your missus arrested').

Anyhoo got a call on Thursday from The Man, saying that they'd done a raid on a house just 200m further down Goldhawk Rd and seized numerous bikes including mine. Bloke was apparently doing a roaring trade in stolen bikes on Gumtree and the Old Bill had got him bang to rights in a sting operation (I'm really trying to make this sound like something out of The Sweeney).

They knew it was mine because I'd registered the frame number on immobilise.com - it only takes five mins to do...

Its really good that the police are actually treating bike thefts as crime for once and dealing with it.

Brilliant news!

And good to hear that the police are doing something.

they need to published that in the newspaper, if they do, any theft would end up thinking twice on how to sell it, especially those in E1.

they need to published that in the newspaper, if they do, any theft would end up thinking twice on how to sell it, especially those in E1.

Name and shame.
Maybe we should go back to the old ways and cut a thief's hand off or brand a letter on their forehead.
A brand in the shape of a bicycle.

It's great that you got your bike back and that the police were specifically targeting him for bike theft.
Good to hear they're doing something about it.

Yeah man thats good news! rare and good!

oh come on... it's not that hard to find gumtree bike thieves or to take a stroll down brick lane on a sunday. why has it taken this long for them to be interested in bike theft?

speaking of such, I wonder if it a good idea to create big A3 poster that said 'beward, stolen bike tend to be sold here' all over the street of Brick Lane?

oh come on... it's not that hard to find gumtree bike thieves. why has it taken this long for them to be interested in bike theft?

methinks the police only act if a theft tried to sell too many bike at once, it sound like that the theft have over 15 bikes in his house, why go after a bloke who's selling one stolen bike when you can go for one who's selling, for example, 15?

Can you change and update your belongings that are registered on immobilise.com? I'm always swapping parts, changing frames etc. so I would need to be able to change parts of the registration.
Also, couldn't a theif steal the bike (or whatever they want) and then register it as their own?

**From the immobilise website: **If the items are not already recorded with us, simply create and account and add the item, then report it as stolen or lost.

Can you change and update your belongings that are registered on immobilise.com? I'm always swapping parts, changing frames etc. so I would need to be able to change parts of the registration.

I am under the impression that as long your frame is clearly identified, the part is moot?

But I'm planning on changing the frame very soon, and possibly a couple of times until I find the right one for me.

Great news about getting your gf's bike back though, Matt. Now send her to night school on how to lock you bike up!

why go after a bloke who's selling one stolen bike...

because if they're offloading one stolen bike, it's likely that they'll steal another one again. and because they're breaking the law.

Just registered my bike (and lots of other stuff) on Immobilise. Never got round to it before, but hearing that it actually works sometimes is comforting.

Its really good that the police are actually treating bike thefts as crime for once and dealing with it.

hold on guys... half of the bikes stolen in london are not reported simply because the general concensus is that police do nothing about it, that creates a catch 22 situation. secondly we all assume the bikes we think are stolen are stolen, the police can't raid someones house because of an add on gumtree if the bike 'looks' stolen, they can only go there and search the premises if it was reported in the first place by the victim whether it's 1 bike or 15.

reminds me of this thread http://www.londonfgss.com/thread13964.html where a passer by called thinking winston and ted were theives.

@matt, glad to hear you got the bike back by the way

You can update whenever you want on immobilise once you have an account. Add and edit items and images then re save it.

oh come on... it's not that hard to find gumtree bike thieves or to take a stroll down brick lane on a sunday. why has it taken this long for them to be interested in bike theft?

They are interested in bike theft--we've always campaigned to make this a police priority, and some years ago following research by the Met strategy unit, it happened--, but it isn't actually that easy to successfully prosecute and charge someone like that. Well done to the police. It's great that you got your bike back!

oh come on... it's not that hard to find gumtree bike thieves or to take a stroll down brick lane on a sunday. why has it taken this long for them to be interested in bike theft?

it is because the proceeds are being you used to fund terrrrrr.

They are interested in bike theft--we've always campaigned to make this a police priority, and some years ago following research by the Met strategy unit, it happened--, but it isn't actually that easy to successfully prosecute and charge someone like that. Well done to the police. It's great that you got your bike back!

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum, but pretty concerned with bike theft, and the sale of stolen bikes. It does come as a surprise the fact that you recovered your stolen bike Matt, where it should come as a surprise that it's so easy for thieves to sell and get away with it even when caught.

Does anyone know why it is not that easy to successfully prosecute and charge someone selling a stolen bike?

Because the police are too busy

*fill in the blank

They are interested in bike theft--we've always campaigned to make this a police priority, and some years ago following research by the Met strategy unit, it happened--, but it isn't actually that easy to successfully prosecute and charge someone like that. Well done to the police. It's great that you got your bike back!

Hmmm. It may be a stated priority, but I wasn't entirely impressed with their response to my bike being nicked. Got a crime number for the stats, but received the "we have no intention of actually doing anything about this" letter the very next day.

ok, so what could we do to help the police? silly as it sounds, I wonder how many have registered their frames in here, I haven't registered mine yet, and when I locked my bike at Oxford Circus today I couldn't stop thinking that this would be the first thing i'd do when back. Than what? completely forgot about it.

Immobilise is an awesome website - thanks for bringing that to my attention Matt.

I still have no faith in the police. A couple of years ago my house got robbed, the pricks took about £10000's worth of stuff. I gave the police a video of the twats walking out of the front door with my shit, both their addresses and their names....cops were not interested and the two idiots are still wandering around ripping people off.

Also, about ten years ago me and about 5 or 6 other people I know all had bikes stolen within a month from the same spot. I found a classified ad in a magazine for two of the bikes...again, no interest from the cops.

Wankers.