Stolen bikes

Just read something interesting on my club's forum written by a clubmate's colleague. Does this happen very often, do you guys know?

I locked my cycle-scheme paid for Brompton to a rack at Borough Market at the weekend while I went shopping. I returned a little later to find that someone had put an additional (and much meatier) Kryptonite D-Lock through the frame.

Initially the police didn’t want to know. But the market management realised immediately that my bike had been targeted by thieves (my wife’s cheapo bike, secured to mine, wasn’t affected). Their aim had been to immobilise my bike and return later when the market was closed to remove their lock and cut through mine with bolt cutters.

The market staff couldn’t have been more helpful, the market manager himself locating an angle grinder, and cutting through the thief’s expensive lock…though it took him half an hour to do so. The police later admitted that a “theft was in progress”, and took a statement from me.

I hope this doesn’t happen to any of you, though looking on Google it (and the similar crime of “accidentally” locking another bike to your frame) does seem to be a growing problem.

Lessons learned.
• Use as good a lock as you can afford/carry. The thief probably wouldn’t have targeted my bike if it would have taken him half an hour to cut my lock off.
• Be pushier with the police, and insist that they, or a community support officer, attends.
• Be confident that Borough Market is a safe place to leave your bike. Doubtless fearing reputation risk, the management were determined that the thief was not going to get away with it. To rub his nose in it they left the mangled remains of his £80 lock in situ, as a warning.