My stolen Trek - A Brick Lane story

[mocker]

Morning all - im new here, and thought i would share my experience ( without getting too Jerry Springer/Oprah! )

I had my Trek mtb commuter stolen sat night/sunday morning from Hackney - it was securely locked with an expensive D-lock to railings yet still went...unfortunately it wont fit up the stairs to my girls flat

rather than waste my time reporting it to the Police ( A MISTAKE ) i decided to scour Brick Lane...it wasnt too hard to spot the thieves on the corner of Sclater st and Bacon Street, a crew of 6 - 10 "runners" constantly repleneshing stolen stock under the command of a couple of "guvnors" - some VERY unsavoury types that i would not suggest you approach unless youre mob-handed/"physically confident" (im a lover,not a fighter! )

no sign of bike from 11am until 5pm

met some mates for food/a pint, had given up hope when my bike appears from the alley leading to pedley street onto Brick lane, between buxton and grimsby street ( the thieves were now hanging out here, directley beneath a CCTV camera...the must be storing the stolen bikes somewhere on pedley street....)

my mate asked them how much they wanted for it and had a chat whilst i dialled 999...there was NO way i was gonna confront them, these were some very nasty looking geezers

2 PCSO's arrived pretty quickly - the thieves casually started to slope off - the guy with my bike started to ride off but i grabbed my bike - he ran off with community cops in pursuit...quickly aprehended...they may get a bad press but i have nothing but praise for their committed swift action

instantly some of his crew gathered and started chucking abuse, looked like it could get nasty but luckily no

CID turned up 5 minutes later - the thief started lying about how he'd just paid £60 for my bike - blatant lies, one of his mates had just tried flogging it to my mate for £140!

NOW this is where things turned interesting...the female CID officer who spoke to me was rude aggressive and un-cooperative from the go, and seemed to be siding with the thief-scum..."why didnt you report the theft, how can your prove its yours?"....i felt like i was in the wrong!

LUCKILY i had a photo on my phone, clealy showing the distinctive scratches/rear disc brake mount (old style chainstay ) scratched forks etc...eventually she agreed it was mine and let me have it ( the thief asked me to re-imburse him for his £60 "loss"...cheeky fekker! )

AT NO POINT did the CID ask if i would identify "potential" thieves or take a statement....i was at fault for not reporting the theft in the first place...and i was made to feel like i was a burden on their ( her ) time rather than a crime victim...the more i think on it the more angry i feel...its BLATANT down their, AND SO OBVIOUS...ive read elsewhere of an immenent crackdown but it still goes on....WHY?

LESSONS LEARNED?
*ALWAYS REPORT YOUR BIKE STOLEN
*ENSURE YOU HAVE THE FRAME NUMBER
*KEEP SOME PHOTOS OF YOUR BIKE ON YOUR PHONE

at least i got it back, though wont be shopping near Brick Lane for quite a while...

 

[dellzeqq]

NOW this is where things turned interesting...the female CID officer who spoke to me was rude aggressive and un-cooperative from the go, and seemed to be siding with the thief-scum..."why didnt you report the theft, how can your prove its yours?"....i felt like i was in the wrong!
...

hhhmmmmm..........

 

[mocker]

blimey! 62 views, 1 comment and no welcomes/commiserations!

friendly bunch you lot eh!?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

as you'll learn one hhhmmmmm........ from dellzeqq is worth any number of compliments from us mere mortals.

Like most forums there is an element of "due paying" to be done in here but the natives are friendly for the most part once you've been sussed though normally a small group just like to squabble amongst themselves. It was ever thus...

Bad luck it got stolen, not a nice experience, well done on getting it back, Inspector Knacker rarely appreciates getting caught in the middle of a squabble as for all (s)he knows it may just be a falling out amongst theives, but I like the way you handled it even if plod didn't.

 

[jeltz]

LESSONS LEARNED?
*ALWAYS REPORT YOUR BIKE STOLEN
*ENSURE YOU HAVE THE FRAME NUMBER
*KEEP SOME PHOTOS OF YOUR BIKE ON YOUR PHONE

Thanks for that, as a new cyclist I'd never even thought to find my frame number let alone write it down

Glad you got the bike back, and I reckon most coppers would rather real life was like "Ashes to Ashes" or "The Sweeney" and they were chasing down "real" villains not mucking about with bike thieves!

A couple of years ago my brother in law had someone drive into his parked car and crack the bumper. A witness noted the number plate down and left it with their contact details on his windscreen offering to give a statement. When he contacted the police they stated they would not do anything until he presented his driving licence, MOT and insurance cert at a Police Station. He was made to feel like he was wasting their time so didn't take it any further. And before anyone asks yes he was insured, MOT'd and Licensed.

 

[fossyant]

Blimey - heard of loads of stories of folk getting their bikes back from Brick Lane, but that lot sound nasty.

 

[mocker]

aye that they were...part bad urban youth/part rat-faced feral scum

seriously considering making an official complaint, theres no way i wouldve recieved the same treatment if i was a floppy haired plummy voiced chap from Putney....if i can work out who the thieves are/how the crew operate/whos "da guvnor" by simply sitting and watching for a couple of hours why cant Plod? ( i pays me taxes! )

long overdue there was a crackdown...mind, doesnt help when even "proper" cyclists are willing to buy obviously stolen Condor/Litespeed etc frames /bikes down there...

 

[CopperBrompton]

That's the problem :-(

If people didn't buy obviously-stolen property, most stuff wouldn't get stolen; it's that simple.

 

[Scoosh]

Commiserations and Congratulations on getting your bike back

Bike theft/crime seems to be pretty low on the law-enforcement agencies' list of priorities One would certainly think/wish that the local police would be a bit more pro-active, now that they know where the tea-leaves hang out. Wouldn't hold my breath tho' .....

 

[ed_o_brain]

it pains me that bike theft is not taken seriously. The people I really feel for are those holding down an unsocial job barely scraping enough to pay all their bills. When their bike is their only way of getting to and from said job, it is subsistence transport.

Getting a BMW M5 knicked doesn't cost the owners livelihood.

Glad you got your bike back.

 

[skrx]

theres no way i wouldve recieved the same treatment if i was a floppy haired plummy voiced chap from Putney...

Indeed: http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=667713&postcount=1 (Photo taken in the poshest bit of Putney).

One of the biggest concerns of would-be cyclists is "won't my bike get stolen?". The police doing something about bike theft would really help.

 

[ufkacbln]

Subsistence transport?

That is part of the problem... people associate bikes as a poor man's transport, not as the real and valid transport choice for thinking adults.

I had a chat with a colleague about the fact that I pay for secure cycle parking at work - they could not see the point and was appalled that most of us were riding bikes in excess of £1000. Then came the classic -"Why would you spend that much on a bike when you can get a car at that price..."

We need to educate people, and the Police that to many people cycles are as big an investment and loss as a car.

 

[grhm]

it pains me that bike theft is not taken seriously. The people I really feel for are those holding down an unsocial job barely scraping enough to pay all their bills. When their bike is their only way of getting to and from said job, it is subsistence transport.

Getting a BMW M5 knicked doesn't cost the owners livelihood.

Glad you got your bike back.

I'd second Cunobelins sentiments here.

Nicking someone's only means of transport and causing problems with their lively hood is nasty. However, a BMW M5 could be the only means of transport a sales rep has and could be paid for by a loan he can just afford. I'll admit it's not likely example.

However, nicking someones expensive bike is not likely to cost someone their livelihood. F***ing annoying and costly.

 

[Tharg2007]

I'll also second Cunobelins sentiments (is that third?)
When i was dealing with an insurance claim after getting knocked off the guy askem the value of the bike, when i told him in excess of £600 he felt he had to double check I wasnt talking about a motorbike and with distrust in his voice told me that was expensive for a bike, at that point i had to laugh or i would have cried.

 

[dav1d]

Around ten years ago or so, me and two of my brothers were cycling through Longsight. A local taxi driver got two of his mates to help him rob our bikes. They were bigger than us and very threatening.

One of my brothers ran away to try to find a police van/car. Luckily he found one instantly and they came to the scene of the crime.

The taxi driver made up some story: said he'd had one of the bikes stolen, the one with the lock around the frame. The reason there was a lock around the frame was because my brother didn't have anywhere else to put it.

So my brother proved it was his lock by unlocking it with the key in his pocket (besides, they had no false story for the other two bikes), but before he did that, the police were willing to let the bike thieves keep the bikes even though their story was clearly nonsense. The copper was very rude and threatened to arrest my brother because he wanted to tell them his story and they basically didn't listen, they were more interested in the crooks story. They even threatened to hit him, which I pointed out was illegal.

Imagine my surprise when a few years later, the very same oficer did a talk on crime at a college I was attending. Needless to say, he didn't leave with his reputation intact as I simply told the truth.