Mugged on Forest Hill Road on the 25th July at 5pm

[bjm]

Just a note to please be careful.

I was walking back from Honor Oak station yesterday at 5pm and putting my phone in my bag when a young skinny tall white guy ran from behind and grabbed my phone - twisting my hand to make me drop it.

So please be careful with your phones and yourselves everyone.

[poppylucky]

Thankyou for the post and alerting everyone.

Hope you are o.k, as it is not a nice experience to be mugged - you should report all details to the police,so they have a record incase the thief turns up again.

Well unfortunately our streets are slowly becoming muggers paradise, badly lit, no police presence.

Everyone must be vigilant especially outside Train Stations.

[dbboy]

Whereabouts on Forest Hill Road did this happen?

[bjm]

It was outside Cabrini House- I think that is its name- opposite the bus stop- nearly at the junction with Honor Oak Rise.

[BB100]

Hope you are ok - something like that can really shake you up for a while - and many thanks for the tip off.

[dansus]

Think ive been approached by similar chap youve described, he stopped beside me and gave me a menacing look, before he had a chance to do or say anything i stepped behind him into the road and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Then i just stopped and stood in the road until he decided to walk off empty handed. Traffic wasnt happy, but tough, means you have lots of witness if they try it on again. If this happens to you, the stand in the road trick works quite well if its not in the dead of night.

[simonethebeaver]

As I've said on another thread, the same thing happened to me last week further down Forest Hill Road. Although the guy that stole mine was black, he was with a white guy. Guy was blond? I hope you have reported this to the police. They've been great with me, and I know there's some CCTV footage of the guys that did me. If this is the same people, and the same thing happening on the same road suggests that's possible, they need to start building up a picture of them. They got me in to try to identify my mugger and are taking the whole thing very seriously.

I do hope you're OK too. I was really shaken afterwards. It's a horrible thing to happen.

[hoser]

As a young(ish) skinny tall white guy who walks to and from H.O.P. every day by that route, I'll keep an eye out for my evil doppellganger. And tell my girlfriend to be on the lookout too. Thanks for posting, and sorry for your experience.

[CBRoad]

Thanks for letting us know. That?s my route home at about that time, so will be keeping valuables stuffed in my pockets out of sight.

Hope you?re doing ok, horrible thing to happen

[Jeremy]

Basically - if you have an expensive phone, don't use it when you're walking alone unless it's essential.

[mockney piers]

I remember a chap on a bike lazily riding past the bus stop I was at and plucking the phone from a nearby lady's hand as she was texting into it.

Oddly I got the impression he didn't care one way or another about whether he wanted the phone, it was more like a point of principle.

He even gave her a shake of the head and a tut as he pedalled off with a look that said 'seriously love, what do you expect'. It's sad that that's how we have to live but Jeremy's advice is spot on.

[bjm]

Thank you for all your kind messages of support

I did report it to the police and they were amazing

The guy had brown/blonde hair yes

It wasnt even an expensive phone and I wasnt using it- just putting it back into my bag at the time!

[Renata Hamvas]

I'm sorry to hear about your phone theft, bjm, it must have been a great shock, especially at 5pm.:-$

This is the first such theft I have heard about in this area. There have been similar incidents in Peckham Rye Park.

Renata

[simonethebeaver]

Well, as I said upthread, it happened to me on the same road last week, so not entirely an isolated incident.

[ralee]

My neighbour got mugged yesterday, a SUNDAY afternoon outside Cabrini house around midday, I could not believe it. Luckily she is ok, it was a young black guy. This is obviously a hot spot for muggings of phones and it infuriates me that these two guys working in operation together think they can just grab phones off people and there's nothing you can do about it.

They are working along the Forest Hill Road on the way to Honor Oak Park station, please be wary. They don't wait till dark, or collar people when no one is around, they are fearless and they obviously don't give a stuff.

[DJKillaQueen]

The message is clear...flash your expensive items and you open yourself up for stuff. There is no phone call so important that it can't wait till you get to somewhere sensible enough to return the call.

[ralee]

Using a mobile phone is hardly flashing. If your phone rings, you automatically are going to open bag/get it out of your pocket to see who it is? It may be important, or you may be waiting for a call...we can't just go around waiting till we are in a 'safe' area to answer our phones otherwise we may as well not have a mobile phone!

Really annoys me that we have to stop doing something because a couple of scumbags are on the steal.

[DJKillaQueen]

Err it's called common sense.....it isn't that big a deal to ignore your phone for the x amount of minutes it takes to walk from A - B.

[JohnL]

I still reserve the right to defend myself if necessary.

I might, I might not - my mood can change drastically.

Never make them think you will go easy - then you become an easy victim.

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The message is clear...flash your expensive items

> and you open yourself up for stuff. There is no

> phone call so important that it can't wait till

> you get to somewhere sensible enough to return the

> call.

[*Bob*]

Let's reclaim the streets and show these villains we won't be beaten.

Everyone who owns a ?400+ mobile communication device should congregate around Honor Oak station during the hours of darkness and engage in absorbing conversations whilst holding said devices lightly between two fingers.

I'm afraid I don't have one, but I'll be showing my solidarity tonight be leaving all my doors unlocked and piles of cash in clear view.

[DJKillaQueen]

Oooh would that be what's meant by a 'flash' mob :))

[dbboy]

thanks for the update and warning, it is worrying these scum are operating so blatently, I hope your neighbour is ok.

[Lozellen]

I find it hard to imagine that 5pm in summertime on a busy road is an inappropriate time to make a phone call. Frankly I don't even have very good mobile reception at my home so the whole point is to be contactable by works and friends when I'm 'mobile'. Yes - if it's late at night taking extra precautions is just common sense but I do find myself wondering what some of you got mobiles for in the first place if you only intend to use them at the office and home...?

[DJKillaQueen]

And I wonder why some people feel the need to be at the end of a phone every minute of the day - horses for courses.....

[Lozellen]

Hahaha. I would like very much not to be but the nature of what I do means I get work bookings by phone and it usually helps my bank balance if I answer it... I'm not advocating being reckless about using phones in public but it is frustrating when people are in my opinion using a phone in the light of day, on a busy road with both pedestrian and road traffic and still feel at risk. Sadly having a crap phone probably won't make a difference as I doubt they'll stop to check before nabbing it! Although I have known someone to have theirs returned when the mugger realised their haul wasn't so great after all.