Bike Thief at Large

[Bellenden Jo]

Last night a bike was stolen from outside our house in Wingfield Street, bolt croppers cut the lock and off they went. Then this morning I noticed a chap taking the wheel off the bike of a neighbour bold as brass in broad daylight - I made the mistake of thinking he was repairing a tyre and just ignored him, but it tuens out the swine was nicking the wheels. However, the sixth sense was working slightly and I made a mental note of the lousy beggar: 6 ft tall, white, black curly hair, generally grubby looking, wearing grey top and balck addidas shell suit trousers. He had his own bike with him - black mountain bike style and carried a black rucksack with red trim. If you see him - challenge him. I've given the description to the boys in blue.

[SteveT]

Good for you, thieving swine!

[PeckhamRose]

You say he had his own bike with him - it may have been one he'd nicked earlier!

Well done for taking a note of his physicality.

[womanofdulwich]

if you saw someone doing this would it be a good idea to take a photo of them at work????

[rgutsell]

Hi all

Just to add to this.

I had a bike stolen from our front yard, In East Dulwich Grove, about two months ago. Same process; bolt croppers to cut through the wire of the lock. The bike was locked to another bike, which had a U lock around the frame and rear wheel. That was left there. The police say that was because the thief would not have been able to carry the bike away, and that the u lock was just the right size, because there was no room to get it open by inserting a car jack in it and bending it open.

Additionaly, the bikes were not out in the open, but in a closed yard not visible from the road. It implies that

the thief was local and regularly viewed the site.

We were also told to check E Bay and street markets, since stolen bikes and equipment often appear there quite quickly. If you have a good means to identity the bike, you may be able to reclaim it. The thief does not get much cash for the parts, and the buyer/seller knows that it is all stolen. Its possible that the money goes on short term drug use etc etc.

[peckhamboy]

womanofdulwich Wrote:

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> if you saw someone doing this would it be a good

> idea to take a photo of them at work????

Why would you wait for them to get to work? Wouldn't it be better to take a photo of them stealing the bike?

[ianr]

Frame serial numbers are usually stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket (the cylindrical bit at the bottom of the frame that contains the axle the pedal cranks connect to).

[thebestnameshavegone]

If your bike is really important to you I'd suggest a Kryptonite Fahgeddaboutit combined with a chain-type lock - look for 'Sold Secure' ratings of either gold or silver. It would take a pretty determined thief a good half an hour or so using some pretty noisy tools to get through those.

(The london bike postulate of 'if you leave your bike anywhere public overnight, regardless of what you locked it with it will be gone in the morning' over-rides this however. )