Locks removed from railway bike racks

dombo6

Anyone else come across this? My Southern Railway station has bike racks for commuters. Overnight and at weekends we tend to leave the locks hanging on the racks. The racks are out the way and under cover so you only go near them if parking your bike. Anyway, last week the outfit that runs the parking facilities took it upon themselves to cut off all the locks that weren't being used. No warnings given. I asked at the ticket office and was told it was due to Health and Safety or some such b0ll0x, and normal practice. Although it's the first time this has happened in five years.
Several claims for criminal damage are being filed by irate commuters.

Koncordski

I've heard of it happening but the easy way to avoid the problem is by putting stickers on the locks warning people that it's going to happen on (x) date in the future. I can see the need to do it a couple of times a year as there are a lot of clearly abandoned locks at my local station. But yeah, without warning is ridiculous.

Daz555

All they need to do is sticker the locks and then a couple of weeks later cut the locks where the sticker has not been removed.

No justification in cutting all the locks without notice.

schlepcycling

Is it not classed as criminal damage even though the racks are probably on private property?.

snig

schlepcycling wrote:

Is it not classed as criminal damage even though the racks are probably on private property?.

maybe, you are using the bike rack for the propose it has been provided.

Surely a warning would be the least they could have done.

The Rookie

Criminal damage, you can make a civil claim for losses, also report the criminal offence to the Police (or threaten to, the train operator may not want all those crime stat's against the station, so gives you some leverage.

First you need a letter before action detailing the claim and giving them a reasonable time (14 days) to settle, then raise a money claim online.

thistle_

Send them a stern letter, works a treat

Enclose a copy of the receipt for the new lock and mention how much of a discount of the rrp you got. You're going to need to buy a new lock anyway regardless of whether they refund you.

Also take note of any backtracking or lies you've been fed, like they did put stickers on the locks on a particular date, or that there were signs up saying locks can't be left there.

markhewitt1978

schlepcycling wrote:

Is it not classed as criminal damage even though the racks are probably on private property?.

No because the locks themselves are still the property of the owner of the locks, they have not been 'abandoned'. The most the property owner could do is remove the lock *without damaging it* and keep it a reasonable time for the owner to retrieve it.

Cutting it off without warning is IMO criminal damage (IANAL of course)

debeli

I used to leave a lock at my office, on one of several rows of covered bike racks in the car park.

I stopped doing it when I realised that many others did so and other cyclists were getting slightly peed off that their bikes were being shoved, nudged and knocked into by 'lock-leavers' trying to access their abandoned locks from between other bikes. I first overheard that in a coffee queue and sort of sweated it out in guilty silence.

Later, a quick straw poll revealed that most thought it selfish and many had had their bikes shoved or nudged after locking themm near 'abandoned locks'.

I stopped leaving my lock after that (and found that the burden of the extra mass on my commute was purely psychological... there was no real time penalty).

I can well understand a company cutting abandoned locks from public areas and am slightly bemused that anyone would consider litigation. One might consider getting over oneself. It is, after all, only a lock and was left in a public place through convenience and/or laziness.

The Rookie

Debeli wrote:

I can well understand a company cutting abandoned locks from public areas and am slightly bemused that anyone would consider litigation. One might consider getting over oneself. It is, after all, only a lock and was left in a public place through convenience and/or laziness.

I can well understand them cutting them away in a legal manner, not a criminal one as they (appear to) have done. It matters not really what you think, the act was almost certainly criminal damage and they lock owners have a right (from the information available) to seek compensation. It wouldn't have been hard t either request they were no longer left there via signage or to leave stickers or similar on them.

I leave my lock at work, as does nearly everyone else who uses the same rack area, we all return to the same space as well so no inconvenience to anyone.

rolf_f

Debeli wrote:

I stopped leaving my lock after that (and found that the burden of the extra mass on my commute was purely psychological... there was no real time penalty).

Maybe you have an easy commute. I have a lot of climbing in mine and carrying a heavy d lock and cable would make a difference to comfort. Probably it wouldn't make much difference to time to carry the lock but I would have to start wearing a rucksack to carry it and it is heavy and it would give me backache (it does, mildly, when I use the cycle point and have to carry a lock in with me) so I think I'll stick with the lock leavers rather than the lock carriers!

Long_Time_Lurker

I'll admit it - it annoys me when people leave their locks.
To me, it's the equivalent of leaving a towel on a sunlonger. A subconcious marking of territory - that the rack is yours as that is where you always leave it. Perpetuated by other regulars who do the same thing.

* runs off before a lynch mob assembles *

:twisted:

slowbike

It would make sense if the station had a designated "lock park" so there was somewhere sensible for ppl to leave their locks without looking like they've reserved a place ...

markhewitt1978

Slowbike wrote:

It would make sense if the station had a designated "lock park" so there was somewhere sensible for ppl to leave their locks without looking like they've reserved a place ...

That's such a good idea that it'll never happen !

slowbike

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

It would make sense if the station had a designated "lock park" so there was somewhere sensible for ppl to leave their locks without looking like they've reserved a place ...

That's such a good idea that it'll never happen !

Thats the problem ... simple ideas, cheap to implement - won't get implemented and if it did there'd be someone who left their lock in the wrong place and complain when it was removed ...

The Rookie

Long Time Lurker wrote:

I'll admit it - it annoys me when people leave their locks.
To me, it's the equivalent of leaving a towel on a sunlonger. A subconcious marking of territory - that the rack is yours as that is where you always leave it. Perpetuated by other regulars who do the same thing.

* runs off before a lynch mob assembles *

:twisted:

It depends on the situation, where I work the bike parking is never usually more than a third full, so for people without a parked lock there is lots of choice anyway, so they in no way suffer due to the practice used by the people who do (which is 95% of the bikes that ever use that set of racks)....I can understand in other situations it may be 'anti-social'.