Advice: Someone's Locked my Bike Up

charliew87

So last night went to a pub to watch Spain v Chile in Soho. Locked bike up outside. Came out at 10pm and some mug has locked their bike to mine and the bike stand. Very annoying.
Waited an hour, no sign of this person. Went into a few local offices with 24h security and they didn’t know who it could be.
I’ve got one Kryptonite D-Lock and one fairly thin cable combination lock holding mine to the bike stand and ended up leaving it there last night.

Fortunately it’s still there this morning, but it’s also still locked by this other lock and bike.

I’ve got insurance but they won’t cover the £90 to have the lock cut off that I’ve been quoted. I know that this is a common way of people nicking bikes, with them cutting the lock off in the dead of night and taking my bike.

I don’t want to leave it there another night, but also don’t particularly want to pay the £90 to have the other lock removed.
Anyone got any pearls of wisdom for me?!

(Mine is the black & orange one, theirs is the Scott.)

slowbike

I assume you've got no method of cutting the lock yourself.

I do, so my course of action would be to cut the offending lock, leave a note with my telephone number on the railings and take both bikes home and secure them there.

IMHO, It's not theft as you're not intending to permanently deprive the owner of his bike - but you can't leave it there indefinitely

junglist_matty

Or you can hire some 900mm bolt cutters for £13.00 and cut their lock off.... Take their bike whilst your at it.

http://www.hss.com/g/50720/Site-Tools.html

charliew87

junglist_matty wrote:

Or you can hire some 900mm bolt cutters for £13.00 and cut their lock off.... Take their bike whilst your at it.

http://www.hss.com/g/50720/Site-Tools.html

could be an option. never used these before, is it straightforward or does it require monumental human strength?

monkimark

Depends how thick & strong their lock is. It will require a bit of brute force either way.

Mind you don't become one of the very small group of people to actually get arrested for that sort of thing. Not that it appears to be a problem for the bike thieves of London generally.

The Rookie

If it's a cable lock it will take no effort at all, a chain may take a bit. (can't see the photo through the Co firewall).

monkimark

It's a D lock, Abus of some sort.

bigmonka

You might want to ring the police/community liaison officer first, especially if it's a technique used to steal bikes. They may even come and cut the lock for you?

cookeeemonster

Christ some people are idiots...hopefully you can break his lock with the thing you gotta hire.

Then buy 10 cheap cable locks from a pound shop and lock his bike to the stand using them...

markhewitt1978

BigMonka wrote:

You might want to ring the police/community liaison officer first, especially if it's a technique used to steal bikes. They may even come and cut the lock for you?

I've heard people have done that before, and the police have helped them out, you'll need some proof that that bike belongs to you.

chris_bass

CookeeeMonster wrote:

Christ some people are idiots

or not, people have been known to lock their bike to another so that they can comeback when it is quieter and steal the first bike.

I'd see if you can find a police person and see what he says, you don't want to be caught cutting the lock off a bike, might be a bit hard to get them to believe your story after the event.

monkimark

I'm not sure I could prove ownership of my bike if I needed to, unless it was one that has been registered on one of those police marking schemes.

StorckSpeed

Tell the Police.
Hire a battery powered angle grinder for £5, it will cut through the lock in seconds. (Like a hot knife through butter)
Alternatively Tesco sell an angle grinder for £30.
Good Luck.

Pufftmw

You have the key to your lock - its unlikely that someone would lock 2 bikes like that, so that will tell the police it's yours. They will likely take/check your details as well and only a fool would tell the police where to find them...

Also, update us with what's happened?!

Colinthecop

£10 for a pack of beer, nip down to the local fire station*, explain the predicament and ask one of the water fairies if they want to walk down with you to your bike with their bolt cutters and free said bike in exchange for said beer.


*Do not go after 10pm as they'll be asleep and waking them up leaves them grumpy and not very helpful....

markhewitt1978

monkimark wrote:

I'm not sure I could prove ownership of my bike if I needed to, unless it was one that has been registered on one of those police marking schemes.

Just a picture of your bike somewhere other than that rack would probably do!

gazman428

Contact the police, then just cut the lock off. I lost the keys to a d lock yrs ago and smashed it open using a trolley jack in the middle of the D to snap the lock.

owenlars

Pufftmw wrote:

You have the key to your lock - its unlikely that someone would lock 2 bikes like that, so that will tell the police it's yours. They will likely take/check your details as well and only a fool would tell the police where to find them...

Also, update us with what's happened?!

Presumably the bloke with the other bike has the key to his lock as well so it doesn't necessarily prove anything.

tangled_metal

Colinthecop wrote:

£10 for a pack of beer, nip down to the local fire station*, explain the predicament and ask one of the water fairies if they want to walk down with you to your bike with their bolt cutters and free said bike in exchange for said beer.


*Do not go after 10pm as they'll be asleep and waking them up leaves them grumpy and not very helpful....

Great post on so many levels. Good advice, water fairies (never heard them called that) and heard they don't mind doing the odd side job for money or goods. Plus beer helps them pass the evenings on duty!

Mikey23

So how did this end up then?

snowster

Cut that f***er off and stop being a pussy

junglist_matty

Mikey23 wrote:

So how did this end up then?

I can only assume due to lack of response he was busy trying to cut the 'offending' lock when the local bobby noticed and put him in the nick :twisted:

cookeeemonster

chainsaw accident?

mrkev83

Personally I would of been straight to a DIY store, cut the lock off and rode away. If someone had accidentally locked their bike to mine, that's there problem for being daft

charliew87

all good in the end. one of the local buildings security people who I left my details with called me later in the day, was an innocent mix up. I went and reinflated his tyres and gave him his lights back and he unlocked my bike.

No need for any dramatic lock cutting thankfully!

Mikey23

A happy ending ... Me likes