Odd sighting - balaclava clad pedestrian

[davidtheanimator]

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this information is useful or may strike a chord with someone but yesterday I saw a group of young men in their teens or maybe early twenties hanging around on Melbourne Grove at around 8.20pm and they struck me as a little odd.

They were dressed all in black and seemed to be watching out for something. I wouldn't have thought it odd except one was wearing a black balaclava and another was wearing a motorbike helmet but no vehicle in sight and they were walking slowly as a group while watching the road.

Obviously I didn't witness any crime committed and it may have been nothing but thought I'd mention considering the spate of recent scooter thefts.

[kford]

Report it. These are bike thieves.

[davidtheanimator]

I was wondering if I should - thank you, will ring 101.

[DulwichFox]

Perhaps they were Pizza Delivery Riders.. Melbourne Grove ? Il Mirto. ? Domino Pizza.

Good to be vigilant but we cannot call the police every time we spot someone wearing a Crash Helmet.

DulwichFox

[Penguin68]

A legitimate group of bikers (i.e. walking back to their bikes) could be similarly dressed, I know a number who would wear a (thin) balaclava under a helmet - that they were 'lurking' may be suspicious, or just coincidental. It is sad that we now think the worse when we see people. 8:20 in a summer evening does seem a little early for the parked bike thefts we have become used to - the early hours of the morning seem more common. Pizza delivery drivers (for the time) may be a better solution - and they could be hanging around (lurking) waiting for an order.

[solar]

Dominoes pizza have had similarly dressed people strolling around Dog Kennel Hill/Grove Vale recently holding advertising boards.

May be one of them. They did look rather sinister!

[davidtheanimator]

Thanks both. I live in an area in close proximity to the Deliveroo base and another pizza delivery base and walk past both regularly so am quite familiar with what their groups of drivers look like and wear typically when they're waiting for jobs.

This group struck me as different - it's hard to articulate exactly how their behaviour and clothing seemed different but, for example, the walk they took was around 5-10 minutes up the road and one wore just a balaclava (no helmet) the whole way - I would think most riders would have removed theirs.

With luck you are right and it was just coincidental.

[Penguin68]

It would be worth while giving the non-emergency Police number a call, if you are used to seeing delivery people and these didn't seem 'right' in that context. It may be an assembly point for wrong-uns - in which case the intelligence may be of value.