Thieving scum in boro (with pictures)

lordmerchant

I work as a cycle instructor in county durham (and neighbouring counties) I was working over at middlesborough today and have had my bike stolen. The bikes (mine, and a colleagues) were secured and locked to a Thule roffrack and were parked in a secure school car park - directly infront of a classroom window and overlooked by a playground. In the time myself and my colleage went in the school, spoke to staff etc some fucking scum bags - smashed their way through the 6-7ft perimiter school fence, destroyed the thule roffrack and made away with two bikes - a spesh frs 06 comp (with a LOT of upgrades) and my clleagues championship interceptor. We informed the police - lot of fucking good that did. after nearly two hours we rang them back and told them we had to head home. The school have informed us their insurance wont cover it, my company will not cover the cost - and now its looking unlikely that my colleagues car insurance will not cover it!! Right now it feels as if I have had my arm chopped off. so keep your eyes peeled in the boro area for my bike please! I will add them serial number once i have dug it out. Sorry for the rant but I am extremely wound up!

school fence


Roofrack


Stolen bike - stumpy fsr comp 06 - thomson stem and seatpost - XT hII cranks - please keep eyes peeled in boro area


SERIAL NUMBER: M5LJ38251

CommandoBoy

Mate, send me some details i shall look out for it at work and pass it around.

DrWorm

Thats so very very harsh. My heart pours out to you.

I always thought car racks were about as secure as a chocolate chain though...mind you a determined tea-leaf like this would have nicked it even if it meant cutting through the frame. Looks like the work of pikeys to me mate to be fair. The destroyed fence and going over and above the lengths neded to nick a bike from outside Maccy D's means it's some scummy full-time thief.

Sadly I doubt you'll ever see it again. Very unlucky it wasn't covered but even if you had specific cycle insurance I don't think it would have covered you because they were not secured in a manner that most insurance companies demand on.

Sorry again though ... it sucks

blister pus

Sorry and angry to hear about the theft. On that second image, on the building wall, there's a security camera not pointing in your cars direction, does the camera rotate 180° ? Is it possible it captured something?

lordmerchant

I know hat you mean about the bike rack, It did go against every natural instinct in my body to leave it, but i was complaicant, I thought it is in a secure car park - right underneath a cctv camera, there were signs up saying the area was monitored by cctv, it was in the middle of the day "whats the worst that could happen?" I thought. On a side note I spoke to the head about getting a copy of the CCTV and she informed me the cameras were dummy - just thinking the fact there were signs up and cameras - could this be grounds for liability or does the blame still land on me for a major lapse of judgment?

DrWorm

The blame is with the thief. Not you. I think you'll find alot of places have dummy cctv cameras or really old ones that produce an image as clear as you get from a £10 webcam.

lordmerchant

just for anybody whos about it the area some further details, the bike is a large size FSR stumpy (which a large white L on the downtube) fitted with a fox 120 fork upfront with a pretty big scratch on lower fork leg) fitted with mavic 717's on XT hubs, thomson seatpost and stem, juicy 5 brakes, fitted with shimano spd pedals. Definitely very distinctive and not a typical bike for that area of boro (newham bridge)

CommandoBoy

lordmerchant wrote:

just for anybody whos about it the area some further details, the bike is a large size FSR stumpy (which a large white L on the downtube) fitted with a fox 120 fork upfront with a pretty big scratch on lower fork leg) fitted with mavic 717's on XT hubs, thomson seatpost and stem, juicy 5 brakes, fitted with shimano spd pedals. Definitely very distinctive and not a typical bike for that area of boro (newham bridge)

You told bobby cycles and boro bikes to have a look out?

lordmerchant

I'm not from the area - are those local bike shops - if so I will definitely give them a ring and leave details - have any contact details?

CommandoBoy

Yer, these are the two bike shops in mboro,

bobby's is 01642 244046 the owner is called Malcom
boro bikes is 01642 354666

lordmerchant

no answers from there or machines but ill definitely phone them tomorrow - thanks commandoboy!

CommandoBoy

Ring bobbys before 12 cos he does half days on weds

finlayson99

To$$3rs :evil:
You have my deepest sympathy my friend

deffler

Theres a copper who posts on the stolen pages of the forum, cant remember what his username is tho :oops: he's from middlesborough area. Hes always quite keen to help people get bikes back as im sure he's a mtber as well

deffler

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12628396

contact the copper on the above thread hes posted his email

Clewsy89

i heard about your unlucky loss this afternoon cos my mam works ther dude, im very much into MTB myself, she came in and told me about the two bikes that got stolen. She didnt know what type of bikes but said they were expensive so i had a look around on here to find out the type, i live in the immediate area of where they were took, infact just around the corner so ill keep my eyes peeled mate. Ive had a few bikes knicked off me but it will be pretty obvious a chavy ba***** riding a high spec bike like that. Unfortunately the likelihood is they may take it apart or even spray it (just something to look out for aswell) ill do ma best mate.
You could try posting on my mates MTB site also if ya want, dont know if your a member but its aparently becoming really popular in the northeast so worth a try:
www.mtbe.co.uk

Good luck dude. :?

lordmerchant

cheers for all of your replies guys, I am going to visit local bike shops personally tomorrow, I have contacted the guy from cleveland police who posts here. I know my efforts are probably in vain, stealing and stripping of bikes in a big businees thing these days - even if I never see it again, hopefully we can make the property too hot to handle - I would rather see it lying in the bottom of a canal than contribute towards some scumbags misbegotten income!

taz3611

Just a thought but try and see if there's a Cash Converters in the area. Would give the thieving *&^%'s a bit of money to spend on drugs.

lordmerchant

good thought taz, I will research any pawn shops in the area and hit them up tomorrow - will look for any components from my bike

nicklouse

lordmerchant

I would be re-evaluating the company insurance and the use of your own cycles.

Not a nice situation to be in.

lordmerchant

Don't I know it nick, re-evaluating a lot of things atm

CommandoBoy

lordmerchant wrote:

good thought taz, I will research any pawn shops in the area and hit them up tomorrow - will look for any components from my bike

If your in stockton there's two in the high street. Cash generators and cash convertors

lordmerchant

well the bike was stolen from newham bridge school, dont know the area at all, but will try anywherte in the vacinity :?

Eskimo427

would your house insurance cover the cost of the bike?

cgarossi

Very sorry for your loss. I am now very paranoid about my bikes at home. I live in a very low crime area but (and I say this without being racist/predjudiced) we do have a lot of season workers come over for the summer. Its a known fact that crime goes up during the summer around here.

I really hope you get your bike back.

adb1006

Lets just hope (if the cnuts haven't already sold it for drug money), that they stack it and kill themselves :twisted:

robmanic1

Do you have home insurance? Mine covers bikes stolen even away from home up to £1000.

Just a thought, it's a sh1t situation!

BigJimmyB

Get looking on eBay too mate, you never know.....

I've never had a bike nicked, but I can understand just how effed off you are now, I know I would be.

Good luck

lordmerchant

Well been back to the area for a look around today, found out home insurance with pay out £500, minus £100 excess. So before I go down that road I am going to try the schools car park insurance. From the quick drive of the local houses I can see it is a very deprived area, and I myself spotted two young lads riding bikes that looked out of their like (marin and a cannondale)

lordmerchant

just heard from ym boss today, that I can get £400 off cycle to work scheme, while this is nowhere near enough to replace my bike perhaps it could be used to buy few bike parts.
Contacted the schools insurer - he reckons I won't get a penny, but I'm still going to try - There were cameras and a sign saying "CCTV protection for your security and protection" And as they were disconnected I'm wondering if this is a loophole. Fingers crossed

captainfly

Did you ask at the school if there was anywhere secure to store your bikes while you were there? If they said the car park was safe then you may have a chance with their insurers and what is your company policy about securing bike whilst on site or in transit maybe able to get a good will gesture if there advice is not the same as their insurance. Stick up some reward posters in the area and take the cops if you get a contact