Beware bike thefts- Lordship Lane

[peckhamside]

I had some contact with the Goose Green safer neighborhood team today (Police). They tell me that there has been some bike thefts on Lordship Lane. So lock your bike with a gold standard D lock!!

To counter this the Council has apparently funded bike marking for the Goose Green residents.

They advertise this on Next Door. I have recommended they also use the EDF. Strictly speaking it is funded for residents of Goose Green area (ward?) but I guess if you work or shop in that area using your bike they will also do it. The sessions are monthly and there should be one in about 3 weeks.

[rch]

These bicycle marking kits are funded by the annual Cleaner Greener Safer bids that I submit every year, approved by our ward councillors. We?ve used the CGS funding on the cycle marking kits for two years running now and I?ve submitted another bid for next year.

I always post a notification of the sessions on the Goose Green SNT thread on the EDF and also attend all the sessions in order to interact with the team and the residents (community engagement with a visible police presence is a vital part of the process).

In addition to Next Door both me and the police post updates on Twitter as well.

These cycle marking sessions have become so high profile that some of the Dulwich SNT teams have applied for funding for their wards.

We use any underspend on other devices to address local concerns... for instance, we bought a proper speed gun so that officers can issue speeding tickets on relevant roads, reported by residents. We?re currently looking at attack alarms to hand out.

Because of ongoing budget cuts, this funding is extremely useful on multiple levels!

[rch]

The difference is that Bike Theft is currently the highest crime stat in Goose Green Ward and our ward has recently had the highest Bike Theft stats in the borough. Crime statistics are what determines police focus, which is why we keep encouraging everyone to keep reporting everything...

[malumbu]

Class Tezza, sheer class. A curse of non-trivial crimes against you and your kin.

[northernmonkey]

If you would also view car theft in the same vein, then perhaps?

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I suspect this is not the first username "Tezza" has had...

[malumbu]

Northern, DKH, this thread is becoming the voice of reason. Perhaps it will grow to the same size as the LTN one.

[ianr]

Tezza wrote:

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> My mate at university saw it

> all as part of one big game.

And you?

[rch]

The bottom line is that Lordship Lane is a Destination High Street where the shops are struggling due to a variety of reasons. But, as the council is trying to encourage more local cycling, we need measures need to be taken to reassure residents and visitors that their cycles will be safe, to encourage them to shop locally.

During lockdown I spoke to many cyclists who told me that they prefer to lock their bikes directly outside the shop rather than down the road, so another pro-active use of the CGS funds was to buy some Plant Lock units to place on the forecourts of some of the shops:-

https://www.frontyardcompany.co.uk/products/plantlock

[heartblock]

Is there place for a couple of bike parks - I used to park a motorbike in these more organised areas, I felt it was more secure in an allocated area with other bikes - maybe they look after each other :) - I'm just wondering if there is a way of securing temporarily.

I like the idea of planters - the issues are maintaining as cidolphus raised with some energy, but also LL is becoming a little tricky for less able visitors, wheelchair access is already a 'mare and difficult for those with visual impairment.

Bike and motorbike thiefs are organised groups and can be very dangerous if you bump into them - usually a van with a driver and 2-3 guys with all the equipment to break most locks - hopefully the local police are aware of these gangs and will catch them soon.

[rch]

The key is to provide a mixture of several solutions. The PlantLocks aren?t planters per se... they are small bike racks that are provided for shops with forecourts (not on the public pavement) and the shops look after them.

I can see that the council are providing groups of cycle racks along the junctions of some Lordship Lane side roads, but this doesn?t address the issues of people specifically wanting to lock their bikes up outside a shop for ten minutes.

Having said that, there is a redundant phone box outside of Franklins which is due to be removed, and that would be a perfect location for proper cycle racks to be installed (most cyclists lock their bikes along the railings protecting the crossing along there).

Lastly, as with everything else, people need to report thefts and suspicious behaviour vociferously, otherwise the police won?t have the intel to address the criminal activities around here.

As with everything else, there needs to be joined up thinking...

[Sue]

Dogkennelhillbilly Wrote:

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

> Call me a conspiracy theorist but I suspect this

> is not the first username "Tezza" has had...

Indeed.

See my comment after his/her first post.

The latest incarnation.

Click on their name and you can see their helpful posts to date.

[malumbu]

Not sure where you get 'luv' from, unless you are stuck in a 60s timewharp. It's bruv now, bruv.

I am Tezza, I am Tezza, no one likes me, I don't care..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_one_likes_us,_we_don%27t_care

Or you can do the Dulwich version (no one knows me, I don't care)

[JohnL]

I think its these new breed of film on Amazon and Netflix

They are dubbed from numerous languages but always have someone with the same accent that I haven't worked out yet saying "luv"

[Nigello]

"Luv" is alive and well in the north of England, I am glad to say. In some places you will hear men saying it to men, like on the buses in Sheffield. More of this, please!

On topic, I think having hoops that are in plain sight of more people, so on the main roads rather than just off on side roads, is better. A shelter is planned for near me but can't remember where exactly, which is good news. (I don't have a cycle but sympathise with those who cannot store theirs safely due to space, stairs etc.)

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

As an occasional cyclist, I don't think more money needs to be spent providing more locking spots for bikes. There are a million lampposts and railings on Lordship Lane and I've never had to look far for a lockable place out the way. Bikes are not regularly getting stolen because the thing to which they are attached failed - it's more often because the locks are chopped off or absent in the first place.

TBF it might be different for people who need overnight storage and can't get their bikes in the house, and people who have boxbikes for deliveries and moving kids.

[goldilocks]

I don't think that we really want people to be locking cycles to lampposts if possible, it can often cause accessibility issues and would be good to have less clutter on pavements rather than more. There are easy solutions for bike parking and having different options, including spaces for non standard cycles would be good.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Don't think we can afford to spend much more money on cycle parking because it's nice to have. Don't you know we've got endless wars in the Middle East to pay for?

[malumbu]

I'm sure that there is a whole Lounge thread on bike parking. Secure bike parking is the biggest thing that bothers me about cycling - more so than the weather, condition of the roads and safety.

I did find an American company that made stands which had an integrated lock - aimed at work places, universities and the like. DfT didn't respond to me on this suggestion - I had seen that they were handing out grants for small schemes that were encouraging cycling including secure parking at stations. We don't seem to have adopted supervised bike parking facilities like in the Netherlands and where they exist I find them rather expensive.

[oimissus]

Not Lordship Lane but there could do with being more bike locks by East Dulwich station/M&S/Grove Vale library - I think there are currently just 3 outside the station and one on the other side of the road. None by the library at all.