Council nicked my bike!

[zigzag]

well, here's a story. i had a my bso locked up to the railings which as i saw have been repainted today and my bike was removed together with a kryptonite lock. although a low value bike, but i used it quite often to go to the shops etc. i am pretty certain it was the council that removed it as they are doing some renovations around our housing estate. other abandoned bike that was locked up to the same railings is gone as well, so no thief will put an effort to cut through d-locks to steal low value bikes. i would value the bike about £70 and the lock £30, so total £100. i thought not to bother but i'm quite p***ed off at this point, and would like some explanation/compensation. there are no bike racks around and no message was left on the bike asking to remove it from there.
so i'm now considering two options - 1) go to local police dept and report it stolen (but i haven't got a frame number) 2) write a complaint on councils' website and hope that someone will get back to me in two weeks.

what would you do in this case? many thanks in advance.

 

[MontyVeda]

I'd walk into the council office and kick off, then they can call the police to escort you off the premises... or you can go to the police, who'll tell you to go to the council, at which point you kick off, they call the police and escort you off the premises.

...or... go to local rag with 'council nicked my bike' story, get your picture on the front page next to said railings, and take it from there

 

[funnymummy]

My son had a similar experience, he had an old tatty bike - It looked tatty on purpose!
He went to meet some mates one afternoon, went drinking ended up in a club til the small hours & sensibly got a taxi home.
Went bcak to get his bike, the following day only to find a padlock through the bcak wheel, he was on his way to college I was at work, so he didn't get to tell me til the following evening, a day later & i managed to borrow a set of bolt cutters from a friends hubby, so 3/4 days after originaly locking it up we went bcak only to find it gone & a notice on the Sheffield stands dated several days ealrier that any bike left for more then 48hrs would be removed.
Contacted the council, to be told they didn't keep a record of bikes removed, but they only removd ones that were in poor repair & obvioulsy 'abandoned'. Asked how they identified these abondoned bikes we were told they had been locked & a yellow flyer attached to call a number to have the bike released!!
My son swore they was nothing attached to his bike, if there was he would have called the number there & then.
Created a bit of a HooHa with the council, but as we couldn't prove that his bike was ever there, there was nothing we could do.

 

[e-rider]

My son had a similar experience, he had an old tatty bike - It looked tatty on purpose!
He went to meet some mates one afternoon, went drinking ended up in a club til the small hours & sensibly got a taxi home.
Went bcak to get his bike, the following day only to find a padlock through the bcak wheel, he was on his way to college I was at work, so he didn't get to tell me til the following evening, a day later & i managed to borrow a set of bolt cutters from a friends hubby, so 3/4 days after originaly locking it up we went bcak only to find it gone & a notice on the Sheffield stands dated several days ealrier that any bike left for more then 48hrs would be removed.
Contacted the council, to be told they didn't keep a record of bikes removed, but they only removd ones that were in poor repair & obvioulsy 'abandoned'. Asked how they identified these abondoned bikes we were told they had been locked & a yellow flyer attached to call a number to have the bike released!!
My son swore they was nothing attached to his bike, if there was he would have called the number there & then.
Created a bit of a HooHa with the council, but as we couldn't prove that his bike was ever there, there was nothing we could do.

did they specifically say that they put padlocks on these bikes? I doubt it!

sounds more like criminals making sure the bike was there in the early hours (by putting a lock on it) and then they nicked it!

 

[funnymummy]

did they specifically say that they put padlocks on these bikes? I doubt it!

sounds more like criminals making sure the bike was there in the early hours (by putting a lock on it) and then they nicked it!

My son spoke to them, the only info i got from him was that they told him they locked them, he didn't enquire how or what with.
It is plausible that it was stolen by someone, possibly who knew what the council were doing & used ti to theri advantage.
It did cause a few colums in the local paper that the council had a blitz on old bikes & any locks they left on the stands, as a lot of commuters leave their heavy locks attached to the stands & were rather annoyed at arriving in town on a Monday morn to find they coudn't lock their bikes up

 

[gb155]

Sadly the council are allowed to remove any "Object" locked to street "Furniture" that does include railings

There is very little you can do about the lock as you had used something to secure a bike to someone elses property (The same if someone locked a bike to your gate etc)

HOWEVER they need to hold the bike for between 14 & 28 days


So act now, ring 'em up, make sure it was them ( if not, off to the police you go) and at least you will get your bike back.

I have worked in LA for 11 years, so the above is not formulated on guess work.

Gaz

 

[bmakabayan]

well, here's a story. i had a my bso locked up to the railings which as i saw have been repainted today and my bike was removed together with a kryptonite lock. although a low value bike, but i used it quite often to go to the shops etc. i am pretty certain it was the council that removed it as they are doing some renovations around our housing estate. other abandoned bike that was locked up to the same railings is gone as well, so no thief will put an effort to cut through d-locks to steal low value bikes. i would value the bike about £70 and the lock £30, so total £100. i thought not to bother but i'm quite p***ed off at this point, and would like some explanation/compensation. there are no bike racks around and no message was left on the bike asking to remove it from there.
so i'm now considering two options - 1) go to local police dept and report it stolen (but i haven't got a frame number) 2) write a complaint on councils' website and hope that someone will get back to me in two weeks.

what would you do in this case? many thanks in advance.

opps... bad council.....

 

[e-rider]

[QUOTE 1420351"]
Why would the council lock the bike?
[/quote]



indeed, that's the bit I don't understand. All well and good if they remove old abandoned bikes (which they usually leave a sticker on for a few weeks before removing it) but I see no reason why they would lock the bikes. Actually, I don't believe councils do this.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

[QUOTE 1420351"]
Why would the council lock the bike?
[/quote]

Is it like clamping a car?

 

[Cubist]

well, here's a story. i had a my bso locked up to the railings which as i saw have been repainted today and my bike was removed together with a kryptonite lock. although a low value bike, but i used it quite often to go to the shops etc. i am pretty certain it was the council that removed it as they are doing some renovations around our housing estate. other abandoned bike that was locked up to the same railings is gone as well, so no thief will put an effort to cut through d-locks to steal low value bikes. i would value the bike about £70 and the lock £30, so total £100. i thought not to bother but i'm quite p***ed off at this point, and would like some explanation/compensation. there are no bike racks around and no message was left on the bike asking to remove it from there.
so i'm now considering two options - 1) go to local police dept and report it stolen (but i haven't got a frame number) 2) write a complaint on councils' website and hope that someone will get back to me in two weeks.

what would you do in this case? many thanks in advance.

Before you start making a fuss, have you actually asked the council what they have done with it? They are obliged to remove them to paint the railings, but how would they know who to notify?



"Kicking Off" as others have advised is hardly going to be productive until you know what procedure they have in place for getting the bike back to you.

Ring them and ask!

 

[Arch]

Is it like clamping a car?

But why? With cars, there's generally a 'release fee' - in other words a fine, for incorrect parking. That has to be clearly indicated in the vicinity. I've never heard of a fine for parking a bike. Removal, yes, I've seen signs warning of that, but never a fine. Unless you want to force someone to pay up for release, locking the bike would be pointless.

In the OP's case, I'd get in touch with the council and ask, as Cubist says. If it wasn't the council, they may know of the contractor. The bike may simply be in storage. It's getting compensation for the lock that might prove trickiest.

 

[benb]

I have worked in LA for 11 years, so the above is not formulated on guess work.

Gaz

Hollywood?

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Hollywood?

LMAO

 

[zigzag]

In the OP's case, I'd get in touch with the council and ask, as Cubist says. If it wasn't the council, they may know of the contractor. The bike may simply be in storage. It's getting compensation for the lock that might prove trickiest.

i've called the council, been put through to different departments, wasted about two hours - no one knows anything. as i didn't know the frame number i didn't bother reporting it to police as well. decided to write this whole thing off. i'm saving more money a month than that bike was worth by not using the public transportation, so not a big loss. and to feel better - bought a carbon frameset..