A sense of justice....

raymondo60

My nephew had his Charge Plug Grinder stolen last night. Silly lad left it (chained up) outside a Pub in Bethnal Green while he popped in for one drink - he usually takes the bike home first, THEN goes for a drink. He was choked - I had donated the bike to him three years ago when he went to University - he goes everywhere on that bike. He rang me, distraught - I told him to go home and check on a well-known website that sounds very similar to tumgree. Lo and behold, 45 minutes after the theft, his bike is for sale there.

I told him to call Police - as usual they said 'Sorry nothing we can do at this stage' etc. What he did next is NOT what I would advise anyone else to do - he called the ad and 'bought' the bike, arranging a meeting next morning outside a London Tube Station, to exchange said bike for cash. He arranged for a mate to go with him. Two young lads duly turned up with the bike, but before any money was exchanged someone shouted 'The Police are here!' and the two theives ran off, leaving my nephew with his bike. He then rode to work, as he does every morning, with a smile on his face, his tatty but loyal Grinder beneath him......

drlodge

Hooray! As you say, not recommended practice but its nice to see a stolen bike reunited with its rightful owner.

slowbike

Excellent ...

shame he didn't arrange a few more mates to go with him ... and approach from different ways ... but hey - he's got his bike back

Seems a typical police response "nothing we can do" ... yer right - there's plenty they could do - but they either can't be arsed or have too much else to do to bother with "petty crime" ... it may be petty to them, but it's a big deal to some of us

Mikey23

Too busy massaging their statistics...

crumbschief

Smile on face is a good job.

raymondo60

Slowbike wrote:

Seems a typical police response "nothing we can do" ... yer right - there's plenty they could do - but they either can't be arsed or have too much else to do to bother with "petty crime" ... it may be petty to them, but it's a big deal to some of us

As an interesting and confusing counter-point...I witnessed a young lad being 'interviewed' by (what I eventually discovered to be) two 'plain clothes' policeman yesterday afternoon. He had a bike, and they were 'checking' his frame number. While that is all well and good, it seems a weird use of resources when the police cannot respond to actual reports and evidence of bike theft (i.e. my bike has been stolen and now its on gumtree) but instead employ tactics to check IF a particular bike is owned by the person riding it at the time, on a 'random' basis.

Perhaps I don't understand the mechanics of policing such crimes......

alan_sherman

The 'random' was probably known with previous.

raymondo60

alan sherman wrote:

The 'random' was probably known with previous.

Good point Alan.......

tangled_metal

Like his tactics. Better to fool them than use violence or intimidation. One thing, how did he know it was his from ad on gumtree? Could he prove it was his? I've got a new bike and need to register it with Specialized and perhaps get proof it's mine like id number on frame. Need to contact local cop shop as they do it I believe.

EKE_38BPM

Tangled Metal wrote:

Like his tactics. Better to fool them than use violence or intimidation. One thing, how did he know it was his from ad on gumtree? Could he prove it was his? I've got a new bike and need to register it with Specialized and perhaps get proof it's mine like id number on frame. Need to contact local cop shop as they do it I believe.

Bikeregister.com is what you're after. I had my Kaffenback marked the other day and I was impressed with it. Apparently they use a kind of ultraviolet acid etch marker pen so even if the bike is resprayed the tag still shows up under UV light.
The register gives you an account that you can add many bikes to and when you sell/give away a bike you can transfer ownership (or not, then report the bike stolen, get your bike back and keep the money).

raymondo60

Tangled Metal wrote:

Like his tactics. Better to fool them than use violence or intimidation. One thing, how did he know it was his from ad on gumtree? Could he prove it was his? I've got a new bike and need to register it with Specialized and perhaps get proof it's mine like id number on frame. Need to contact local cop shop as they do it I believe.

While EKE's reply above answers your question eminently, in my nephew's case the bike was obviously his; it had a pair of short crud-type mudguards on it, and a particularly lurid green pair of flat pedals. The thieves didn't think it necessary to remove such easily identifiable accessories!

mtb-idle

a good new story, well done.

The only thing that confused me was "someone shouted 'The Police are here!' ". I'm assuming that someone was your nephew or his mate?

ManiaMuse

I hope he phones the police again and tells them that he sorted it himself, no thanks to them.

Or tell him to contact the local papers, they'd love a story like that.

raymondo60

MTB-Idle wrote:

a good new story, well done.

The only thing that confused me was "someone shouted 'The Police are here!' ". I'm assuming that someone was your nephew or his mate?

Yes it was his mate - as part of the plan to unsettle the thieves, rather than confront them. I wouldn't have thought of that!

BigLights

Nice story, good to see folks hitting back a bit. It's always worth registering your bike and getting it marked (the police do this for free). The cops also said it's wortwhile rolling up your name and number on a plastic card and putting it inside one of the grips in the handlebar. That way, if there is a 'dispute', you can pull it off with witnesses and hey presto, look at that buddy.