Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
Mrs Uncle Phil had a bad day yesterday. Or a good day, depending on how you look at it.
She went into town to do a few errands, and took our Brompton with her in the car to run around town with.
On a visit to Sainsbury's, she dropped her phone in the car park.
An hour or so later, realising the phone was missing, she went back there to see if she could find it, or if anyone had handed it in to Sainsbury's. She locked the bike up, but being in a hurry, and thinking she'd only turn her back on it for a matter of seconds while she searched the adjacent area of the car park, she put the U-lock around the seatpost, rather than through the frame.
She didn't find the phone (no surprise there) but on turning to return to the bike, she saw a man apparently tugging at something among them. As she got closer, she saw that our Brompton was near him. Closer still, and it became clear it was our Brommie he was tugging at. At this point she broke into a run, he saw her coming and disappeared on another bike.
Examining the bike, it became clear that, as the lock was only around the seatpost, he had been hauling on the seatpost, trying to remove it from the frame, so that he could free the bike from the lock and steal it.
Fortunately, of course, on a Brommie, the seatpost won't come out upwards (you have to remove the saddle and drop it down through the frame). Equally fortunately, the thief did not know this.
Much more fortunately, he didn't know either that, if your Brommie has a telescopic seat post (as ours has), that will come out upwards. Had he known this, he might have got away with the bike. He obviously didn't find the quick release for the inner seatpost.
Just so you know - do make sure your bike is properly locked. This guy was a real opportunist, and it was only because of his ignorance that he didn't get away with the bike. It was unattended for perhaps a minute.
Oh yes, and while she was still in town, a chap rang me to say he'd found her phone, and made arrangements for her to collect it from him. (He'd looked up some numbers in its memory and rung them until he found me).
So, it was a bad day. But it would have been a much badder day if the thief had nicked the Brommie, and Mr Honest hadn't returned her phone!
She went into town to do a few errands, and took our Brompton with her in the car to run around town with.
On a visit to Sainsbury's, she dropped her phone in the car park.
An hour or so later, realising the phone was missing, she went back there to see if she could find it, or if anyone had handed it in to Sainsbury's. She locked the bike up, but being in a hurry, and thinking she'd only turn her back on it for a matter of seconds while she searched the adjacent area of the car park, she put the U-lock around the seatpost, rather than through the frame.
She didn't find the phone (no surprise there) but on turning to return to the bike, she saw a man apparently tugging at something among them. As she got closer, she saw that our Brompton was near him. Closer still, and it became clear it was our Brommie he was tugging at. At this point she broke into a run, he saw her coming and disappeared on another bike.
Examining the bike, it became clear that, as the lock was only around the seatpost, he had been hauling on the seatpost, trying to remove it from the frame, so that he could free the bike from the lock and steal it.
Fortunately, of course, on a Brommie, the seatpost won't come out upwards (you have to remove the saddle and drop it down through the frame). Equally fortunately, the thief did not know this.
Much more fortunately, he didn't know either that, if your Brommie has a telescopic seat post (as ours has), that will come out upwards. Had he known this, he might have got away with the bike. He obviously didn't find the quick release for the inner seatpost.
Just so you know - do make sure your bike is properly locked. This guy was a real opportunist, and it was only because of his ignorance that he didn't get away with the bike. It was unattended for perhaps a minute.
Oh yes, and while she was still in town, a chap rang me to say he'd found her phone, and made arrangements for her to collect it from him. (He'd looked up some numbers in its memory and rung them until he found me).
So, it was a bad day. But it would have been a much badder day if the thief had nicked the Brommie, and Mr Honest hadn't returned her phone!
. It certainly wasn't very "Kryptonite".
.
. I did try to negotiate entry but was met with point blank refusals. I happened to have the lock with me as I wasn't sure whether I would be allowed in. In hindsight I should have insisted on a safe place within the building to leave it rather then relying on it being safely locked up outside under a CCTV camera. I won't make that mistake again. As you say, normally you just take it with you everywhere ever you go, not a problem. However it was insured and I had a replacement fairly quickly. Not the point though as I was distraught when I found it had been pinched.