Someone's in your shed, nicking your bike... what to do?

[Welsh wheels]

Definitely call 999 - crime in progress.
Then lean out of your upstairs window taking photos of the scumbag - it might not stop him, but it's fairly certain that your local NPT will recognise him when they get involved and can go along and invite him for a chat.

I'm concerned about the claimed lack of police officers in some parts of the country overnight. As you'll have seen from 'Traffic Cops - Under Attack' on Channel 5, up here in Yorkshire there are dozens of bobbies driving round in BMWs all night with camera crews in tow...

+ 1 for taking photos. My parents had some trouble with some local yoof throwing eggs at the window, that sort of thing. My dad went outside and starting taking photos and they promptly ran away. It really put the wind up them and they didn't see them again.

 

[gaijintendo]

Definitely call 999 - crime in progress.
Then lean out of your upstairs window taking photos of the scumbag - it might not stop him, but it's fairly certain that your local NPT will recognise him when they get involved and can go along and invite him for a chat.

I'm concerned about the claimed lack of police officers in some parts of the country overnight. As you'll have seen from 'Traffic Cops - Under Attack' on Channel 5, up here in Yorkshire there are dozens of bobbies driving round in BMWs all night with camera crews in tow...

I read Wasting Police Time which helped me adjust my expectations, and took me down a rabbit hole of Blood Sweat and Tea and other similar titles...
I wonder if there is a battery powered CCTV camera that is turned on by PIR, so I can avoid having to take a photo. Much prefer to pull the sheet over my head.

 

[gaijintendo]

+ 1 for taking photos. My parents had some trouble with some local yoof throwing eggs at the window, that sort of thing. My dad went outside and starting taking photos and they promptly ran away. It really put the wind up them and they didn't see them again.

I have a very similar story with my dad, but they started calling him a paedo and making his life hell. I definitely think frame numbers and photos of the culprit are your only recourse.

Are bikes usually cycled away or thrown in a van? Maybe it might make sense to have a look at vans on the street?

 

[Welsh wheels]

I have a very similar story with my dad, but they started calling him a paedo and making his life hell. I definitely think frame numbers and photos of the culprit are your only recourse.

Are bikes usually cycled away or thrown in a van? Maybe it might make sense to have a look at vans on the street?

Yeah, I can see that happening. Fortunately these youths weren't as twisted.

 

[vickster]

Asgard for me, wooden shed not secure enough for bikes

 

[alicat]

Go out and give them what for in the style of @screenman's wife. Only deployed three or four times in my life and effective each time.

 

[raleighnut]

I'd be out there in a heartbeat with anything that came readily to hand to whack em with.

 

[mustang1]

A long time ago I heard of a guy who had an intruder at his shop. He called the polive and said there was an explosion. The polive couldn't get there fast enough.

 

[classic33]

Definitely call 999 - crime in progress.
Then lean out of your upstairs window taking photos of the scumbag - it might not stop him, but it's fairly certain that your local NPT will recognise him when they get involved and can go along and invite him for a chat.

I'm concerned about the claimed lack of police officers in some parts of the country overnight. As you'll have seen from 'Traffic Cops - Under Attack' on Channel 5, up here in Yorkshire there are dozens of bobbies driving round in BMWs all night with camera crews in tow...

All on extra shifts for the show.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

If it's just the one person then I'm heading out there with a cricket bat.

 

[gaijintendo]

If it's just the one person then I'm heading out there with a cricket bat.

Annoyingly, the shed is where I keep all my cricket and bolt cutting items...

 

[classic33]

I read Wasting Police Time which helped me adjust my expectations, and took me down a rabbit hole of Blood Sweat and Tea and other similar titles...
I wonder if there is a battery powered CCTV camera that is turned on by PIR, so I can avoid having to take a photo. Much prefer to pull the sheet over my head.

Guardcam, mains powered with battery back up.

As for what you'd do. I've gone out if it's mine or a neighbours, normally whilst in the queue to be answered. I've a sledge hammer that needs the handle replacing, loaned to a neighbour who missed the post.

As for whether they're more likely to be ridden away or thrown in the back of a van. I'd say ridden away, bikes don't have number plates.

 

[User6179]

Shout out the window,

"get the gimp out, spider is about to catch a fly"

 

[redvision95]

I tend to just let my rather large german shepherd cross breed out "for the toilet " hell do a lot of barking and chase them off usually. We had one a few weeks back that decided to climb onto our kitchen roof when the dog scared him and wouldn't come down. Police came after 20 or so minutes and were quite amused.

We get garden hoppers quite often, I learnt my lesson about leaving power tools and bikes in the shed after I had a Carrera nicked out of the shed along with my Makita drill and my impact gun.

 

[Tin Pot]

I have a driveway doorbell thing, and a motorbike disc alarm... and a bell on my shed, so if someone was to come along and try and poach my bike or excess of loft insulation, I would be able to hear about it if I am home.

My question is, what am I supposed to do after noticing them?

1. Call the police.
2. Hide?

I could theoretically impeded their exit by sticking a bin up against the gate or something like that - which would probably force them a different route, but any kind of interaction is a risk, isn't it? So am I expected to watch them ride away?

Wait outside in the dark.
When they come out, start hitting them over and over.
Say nothing.
Let them flee.