Dawes Tamarak mountain bike with Hibred handlebars

[nigelb]

Very unusual (people say its all wrong!) but I found it really comfy to ride until some toerag stole it from a back garden Saturday evening in Cambridge.

Decent puncture proof tyres fitted, just replaced the failing gear changers with integrated gear/brake levers, was looking forward to a summer of trouble free cycling, sigh.

Hanging's too good for 'em eh?

Nige

 

[Vikeonabike]

Nige,
Make sure you give your local NPT PCSOs a picture of your bike....

 

[nigelb]

Lol, you are joking right?

Stolen bikes in Cambridge seem to be a fact of life, and no Police contact I've had has had any interest in solving "petty crime" like this.

They'll issue a crime number if you need one for insurance purposes, but don't expect them to actually try to solve any crime.

In theory, they have a gallery of stolen bikes http://www.cambs-police.co.uk/newsappeals/property/

The link no longer works, but even when it did the page was very out of date.

I tried phoning them to arrange a visit, but they seemed very keen to put me off. Asked what manufacturer, I said "Dawes", they said no, none of those.

Sorry to be negative, I guess they're all off doing more important things ...

Nige

 

[e-rider]

I agree - the police will not help much (or more likely not at all)

They issue the crime number and then forget about it.

They are too busy standing outside a University campus in Norwich giving fines to students cycling on the pavement - mental!

 

[Vikeonabike]

Nige how far west of Cambridge do you live? Have you tried talking to your local PC / PCSO's.
You could be pleasantly surprised, or you could sit there slag them off for being useless and point to the non-recovery of your bike as proof...

Of course actually reporting it may help?

 

[nigelb]

Hi Vike

I did reconsider my post, which I felt was an honest reflection on my feelings, but wasn't very friendly/fair to you - sorry for any offence caused.

I have used the system the Parkside station use for registering property and flagging it as stolen.

I tried contacting them online, but the link is broken (as is the one to their recovered bike scheme, and their autions of recovered bikes).

Only option is to phone, which I will do at some stage, but I got nothing at all out of them last time I tried (2 years ago, a Dawes racer), don't expect anything this time (Dawes hard tail). Thing is the phone call will cost the earth from my mobile (T-Mobile) as their number is not a "landline" (0345).

I do understand that they do have more serious crime to deal with, I don't mind doing the donkeywork, but they don't even have opening times for their recovered bike store online, seems I have to phone and waste their time just to find out.

One way or another I've had various property stolen over the years, the only thing the Police have ever done is give me a crime number if I needed one. One incidence was a car broken in to, mobile phone taken, calls were made after it was taken, I thought they'd be able to follow that up .... no.

I don't want to slag the Police off, just I don't think they'll be able to do a single thing for me - call it lack of resourcing or whatever, end result is the same, why build expectations that they may be able to help, then just to find they still can't.

Sorry to be so negative

Nige

 

[RRCC]

03 numbers are treated as landlines

 

[Vikeonabike]

Nige,
I understand your frustrations, however you do need to report the theft.
I recovered a bike in P'boro because somebody had posted a picture on the net as well as reporting the theft....6 months after it had gone...
And thanks for reconsidering your original post...sometimes us poor coppers just need to feel as if something we're doing is right!

If you are struggling to get through, pm me with your mobile and i'll take the crime from you tomorrow or thursday.