Council removing locked bikes

ok so there was a thread a while back about a new proposed bill allowing the councils more power to remove stuff from public highways.... tried finding it, no luck.

anyways, saw this today:

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looks like they're already doing it, under an act dated 1980?

not seen this before and figured i'd share... not sure if it's been posted before but i searched and didn't find anything.....

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There's been a lot of hyperbole about it. Seems to me that if they have to give one week's notice, it's not going to apply to actively used bikes, but rather to abandoned ones like the one in your picture.

That's not to say there won't be mistakes... Councils are as councils do, after all.

original bike removal thread
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread2945.html

They will be clamping next ;]

If only that poor guy (above) who wasted his money on those aerospoks had bought disks. He would have got away with parking illegally.

that Japanese wheel clamp is only held on with the stuff you get to attach cheap plugs to baths, you can snap that in a jiffy.

what is it, a hipster clamp? notice giving him 24 hours to put on a sensible wheelset and a front brake?

A few months ago I saw the council removing bikes from fences around old st roundabout with an angle grinder.
But for some reason they were cutting through the frames!

If you lock up in the same place frequently. Maybe move it around to avoid confusion.

If only that poor guy (above) who wasted his money on those aerospoks had bought disks. He would have got away with parking illegally.

:D

There's been a lot of hyperbole about it. Seems to me that if they have to give one week's notice, it's not going to apply to actively used bikes, but rather to abandoned ones like the one in your picture.

That's not to say there won't be mistakes... Councils are as councils do, after all.

Function creep.

A few months ago I saw the council removing bikes from fences around old st roundabout with an angle grinder.
But for some reason they were cutting through the frames!

If you lock up in the same place frequently. Maybe move it around to avoid confusion.

same thing near kings cross just this week: a load of works on the pavement, but just before it i spotted a quite nice looking abandoned bicycle - bit rusty, no saddle, etc, but then realised that it had had the frame cut through. presumably by the workmen so they could put in more cycling parking things next to the ones that were already there.

I dont think its too much of a problem. Its just the natural decomposition of a biycles life.

someone has a crash on their bike, buckles the wheel.
cant really be bothered to walk it home so locks it up.
cant really be bothered to collect it.
gathers dust. kicked over. drunks piss on it.
salvageable parts are removed in decending order of quality. To be given new life (mainly in BLB)
rusty skeleton left.

Council removes frame.
steal melted down and used for a Unipack courier bike for £199.

the department i work for sometimes has to remove abandoned bikes from the racks at Kings Cross station. We have to put a warning letter on each bike 2 weeks before removal.When we do remove them its only the lock we can cut not the bike or frame.They then get handed over to the lost property dept' where they are kept for 3 months then auctioned off. Generally they are mostly crap commuter bikes though, nothing tasty.

Yeah they tag them down here in brighton too, I always keep an eye open for the tags incase they are on anything decent I could liberate the day before the council take it. As yet nothing worth bothering with

Only a couple of years ago Jamie Burrow was a top pro cyclist riding in Lance Armstrong's team and beating Pantani's record up the ventoux....now he's cutting bikes off railings for the council...talk about a fall from grace....

fromenquiries (ST) Londonstreets@tfl.gov.uktoxsheepx@gmail.com,
date1 May 2008 14:28subjectLondon Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill - Ref: SM031114/1
hide details 14:28 (1 hour ago)
Reply

      Dear Sir

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the joint London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill 2007 proposing the removal of items deposited on the highway. Your query was forwarded to us from the Mayor's Office for our response.
I can understand your concerns about the possible effects of these proposals. In 2003, our Cycling Centre for Excellence expressed concerns at a clause in proposed legislation containing express provision to allow for the removal of cycles. This proposal was eventually dropped.
We are aware that the provisions of the Bill include new powers to remove and dispose of items deposited on the highway, where it is considered necessary for the good or safe management of the highway or for the purposes of performing highway authority functions.

Unlike the earlier Bill, which contained provision expressly allowing for the removal of cycles, the 2007 Bill has a wide ambit. The primary intention of the provision is not to facilitate the removal of cycles.
We plan to meet with cycling representatives to discuss their concerns further, and to discuss with the Mayor's Office and London Councils appropriate action at the Bill's Committee stage.
I appreciate you taking the time to write to us about this issue. If I can be of assistance with any further queries please feel free to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Stuart Towne
Customer Services Advisor
Transport for London
[FONT=Arial]Surface Transport Communications[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]====================================================[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Case: [SM031114/1][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]-----Original Message-----[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]From: sheep [[/FONT]xsheepx@gmail.com[FONT=Arial]][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Sent: 16 April 2008 01:16[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]To: Mayor[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Subject: London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Dear Mr. Livingstone,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]I am writing to ask you to withdraw your support for the damaging legislation on forcibly removing bikes from railings without any warning that is being proposed in the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Lawyers for the London Councils and TfL say the clauses in this Bill about removing "Items deposited on the highway" will apply to bicycles as well as things like unofficial advertising signs. Council officers, such as parking attendants, will be able to remove bikes immediately if they cannot identify an owner. Unless bike owners correctly follow a formal procedure for reclaiming their bikes, their cycles will be disposed of without any compensation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Introduction of such legislation will make bicycle parking in London a lottery and owners will not know if a thief or the council has removed their bike. Officers may be required to leave a note but thieves or vandals are likely to remove such notes.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Since you have a target of increasing cycling by 400% in London I am most surprised that you are supporting this damaging legislation which will discourage existing cyclists from using their bikes and will likely reverse the welcome trend in cycling growth.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]You have the authority to influence this Bill and ask legislators to exclude bicycles from removal of items legislation. Please let me know if you are going to take action to stop this Bill from causing serious damage to the encouraging growth in cycling that we have seen in recent years.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Yours sincerely,[/FONT]

Only a couple of years ago Jamie Burrow was a top pro cyclist riding in Lance Armstrong's team and beating Pantani's record up the ventoux....now he's cutting bikes off railings for the council...talk about a fall from grace....

So the message is what, don't do drugs? ;)

he beat Pantani's record for the ascent of the Plateau de Beille

i had a hub fail on my old bike, left it over night on regent street minus failed wheel (to be fixed at home) came back the next day and they had tagged my bike to be removed, and they had put a zip tie through the chain as well as a note taped to the bars. I removed their clutter from my bike, replaced the now working wheel and went on my way.

FYI--the LCC has succeeded in campaigning for Parliament not to proceed with the anti-cycling clauses in the draft Bill.

Link here (don't want to re-post the same info in the threads dealing with this:

http://www.londonfgss.com/post571664.html[URL="http://www.londonfgss.com/post571655.html"][/URL]