SE23.com - The Official Forum for Forest Hill & Honor Oak, London SE23
Online since 2002   11,000+ members   72,000+ posts

Home | SE23 Topics | Businesses & Services | Wider Topics | Offered/Wanted/Lost/Found | About SE23.com | Advertising | Contact | |
 Armstrong & Co Solicitors



Post Reply  Post Topic 
Bike Stolen From Shed in Middle of the Night
Author Message
stevjohn


Posts: 14
Joined: Mar 2010
Post: #1
11-10-2011 12:43 PM

I woke up this morning and noticed that my shed had been broken into in the night. To my dismay my almost brand new Trek racing bike was missing. I am gutted! Nothing else was removed from the shed. My wife's bike was in the back garden and this wasn't touched either. So i've clearly been targetted. I'm posting this for two reasons. 1 - to warn fellow Forest Hill residents that your shed is not a safe place to keep anything remotely valuable. 2 - on the off chance that anyone is offered a knockdown bargain Trek racing bike then you'll know its stolen.

Anyway, i'm gutted (did i already say that?) and am now crying into my soup. I was however pleasantly surprised by the police's reaction who have just been and gone. They seemed to take it very seriously and even sent the forensics team round. I doubt if i'll get the bike back but their response has been pretty positive and not at all what i was expecting. Every cloud...

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
admin
Administrator

Posts: 424
Joined: Dec 2002
Post: #2
11-10-2011 01:30 PM

Could you let us know which road you're on?

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Bangorben


Posts: 18
Joined: Jul 2009
Post: #3
11-10-2011 01:34 PM

Sorry to hear that your bike got nicked. On the subject of bikes being nicked though…

We have a Sheffield Cycle Stand (upside u-shape steel thing) cemented into our front garden. I lock my bike to it every night and fortunately have never had my bike stolen (although my friend who locked his bike there had his quick release wheel stolen one night). Anyhow, I often hear my bike being moved in the night and have on two occasions seen some teenagers walk behind our front hedge to have a look at the bikes more closely. By the time I get out to hurl some abuse at them, they've gone.

So, I was just wondering whether anyone else has experienced this, as I tend to hear the bike being moved relatively often at night? Or am I being paranoid and is it just cats, foxes, the wind…moving the bike??

Knowing if this has happened to anyone else would give a pretty good idea if there is a bigger bike theft problem in the area than people think.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
stevjohn


Posts: 14
Joined: Mar 2010
Post: #4
11-10-2011 01:47 PM

Elsinore Rd

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Erekose


Posts: 557
Joined: May 2010
Post: #5
11-10-2011 06:40 PM

I know a chap who had a bike stolen from his back garden in Hurstbourne road very recently. Given that it was kept out of sight from the road must mean that it was a planned theft and not opportunistic.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
mgmonkey


Posts: 96
Joined: May 2009
Post: #6
11-10-2011 07:50 PM

My neighbour also had their rather expensive bike stolen from their shed on Vancouver Road a few months back.

I think it's unfortunately the way things are for the opportunist thief.

If you have a side garden entrance make sure it can be locked and also affix a trellis or high panel above to make hopping over or passing a bike over the top more of a challenge.

Also the floor anchor thing in cement mentioned above with a good quality D lock should prove too much for an opportunistic thief.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
john-f


Posts: 85
Joined: Apr 2008
Post: #7
11-10-2011 08:10 PM

Do use two good locks of different types: one a D lock and the other a solid chain lock - try and get gold rated - expensive but as much as losing your precious bike (for more info go to you tube, type in "two good locks" and watch the Southwark Cyclists video presented by the late Barry Mason).

The Met do know have a specialist bike theft team, so hopefully you took a note of your frame number.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
john-f


Posts: 85
Joined: Apr 2008
Post: #8
11-10-2011 08:11 PM

Apologies for the typos;

Do use two good locks of different types: one a D lock and the other a solid chain lock - try and get gold rated - expensive but not as much as losing your precious bike (for more info go to you tube, type in "two good locks" and watch the Southwark Cyclists video presented by the late Barry Mason).

The Met do now have a specialist bike theft team, so hopefully you took a note of your frame number.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
bensonby


Posts: 32
Joined: Dec 2010
Post: #9
11-10-2011 08:24 PM

I'm just a bit curious as to why you were (pleasantly) surprised by the police response? You were, after all, a victim of a burglary and the response seems pretty standard and what one would expect.

Have you had a bad experience in the past? What do people expect as a response to crimes like this?

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
stevjohn


Posts: 14
Joined: Mar 2010
Post: #10
11-10-2011 08:35 PM

I'm convinced this wasn't an opportunistic theft. We are a mid terrace house so no access from a side alley. You'd have to go over neighbours garden to get into ours. Also, I only use this bike to do long rides at the weekend so it's not as if someone has seen me on it a lot or going in and out of the house with it a lot. I appreciate the comments about locks but you would have thought that it would be safe to keep a bike in a heavily padlocked shed. The worst thing about this episode is that I'm now suspicious of neighbours as it would have to have been someone that watched me put bike in the shed.

The police have been very good to give them their dues. What's annoying is that now we feel like there are thieves among us in our street and that leaves a bitter taste. I doubt if anyone will be caught and it's this sort of petty crime that ultimately destroys communities because no one trusts eachother.Thumbdown

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
stevjohn


Posts: 14
Joined: Mar 2010
Post: #11
11-10-2011 09:26 PM

In response to besonby I had very low expectations for a response from the police. This was not based on any bad experiences, in fact in 18 years of living in London Ive been very lucky and have had little first hand experience of their services. I just thought that bikes get stolen all the time and they'd concentrate on more dangerous crimes involving violence. They seemed genuinely interested which was contrary to my perception of them.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Honor Oak Bloke


Posts: 30
Joined: Mar 2010
Post: #12
13-10-2011 03:04 PM

In response to Bangorben I also have a sheffield stand in my front garden and I always think I hear the bike being moved in the night. I havent managed to work out if this is people checking its locked or if its the wind. When I go to the window I havent seen anyone outside next to the bike.

Having said that one of the locks I use has numerous hack saw and bolt cutter marks in it so that probably answers that question!

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #13
13-10-2011 08:28 PM

A little off topic but I was interested in the comment about Barry Mason so I just googled it- this is the guy that ran Surrey Docks Farm. We spoke to him only a few days before he went to Spain clearly about organising a childrens party but he never responded for reasons which are now clear. He was a nice man and his passing is very sad.

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
alisa


Posts: 84
Joined: Mar 2008
Post: #14
16-10-2011 09:42 AM

Back on topic. Sorry to hear what happened stevjohn. Unfortunately this seems to be something happening at the moment in the area. Both our and our next door neighbour's sheds were broken into about a month ago on Vancouver.

Again the police were very helpful with us.

One further suggestion is to keep tools locked away - to break into our shed, a number of garden implements were used.

Hope you are able to get a bike again soon.


http://www.se23.blogspot.com/
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
brucethechap


Posts: 8
Joined: Jan 2011
Post: #15
17-10-2011 10:17 AM

I’m really sorry to hear about your loss. The same happened to me in June and it left me feeling similarly sick for a while. I live in a flat in a semi at the Perry Vale end of Vancouver Road, so very close to you. I woke one morning in June to find that my shed door had been forced and thieves had stolen my high end 2 Specialized road bikes – neither bike was locked in the shed (which was foolish given hindsight). My girlfriend’s bike which was outside the shed was left untouched. Access to my shed in the garden is behind a locked gate down the side of the property on to the road, which I presume the thieves jumped over. To remove the bikes from my garden, the thieves took my bikes over my fence into the neighbour’s garden, and then over his high trellised fence (about 8ft) into his neighbour’s garden. I know this because both fences were quite damaged in the process. It must a couple of thieves as a) they stole 2 bikes b) you’d probably need 2 people to take 2 bikes over an 8 foot fence. Police came, took statements, but couldn’t take any prints. They wrote to me a week later saying that there was nothing they could do and had closed the case. Fortunately contents insurance covered things. I also thought that this was more than an opportunistic theft as my girlfriend’s bike was left. I also became suspicious of neighbours – the shed is tucked away in the back garden, and only people with sight into the garden, or seeing me ride to/from work would have known about them.

A month ago, my neighbour (same property, different flat) had his bike stolen from the alleyway running to our back garden. The alley door was locked, and his bike was also locked.

It appears that bike theft is becoming common from local gardens/sheds, which isn’t very nice in such a nice area. Off topic, but the vicarage was burgled a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure what was taken, but it’s worthwhile letting people know so that they can up security. Is there a neighbourhood watch scheme in the area?

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
mgmonkey


Posts: 96
Joined: May 2009
Post: #16
17-10-2011 12:02 PM

There are Neighbourhood Watch signs on Vancouver Road, but whether it is still up and running I don't know.

After reading just how much of hotspot Vancouver seems to be for garden theft perhaps it should be reinstated or something. if it's not currently active.

Anyone on here involved in such things?

Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply

Friends of Blythe Hill Fields


Possibly Related Topics ...
Topic: Author Replies: Views: Last Post
  Stolen Bike from Busy as Bees Nursery SE23 scully 0 2,670 06-06-2016 11:04 AM
Last Post: scully
  Attempted break in, middle of the day Andy Nak 6 8,254 08-06-2015 07:13 PM
Last Post: Tarquin
  Shed broken into and bike stolen andy103374 13 15,870 21-04-2012 08:39 AM
Last Post: BarCar
  Stolen Bike? BarCar 2 4,699 07-03-2012 09:41 PM
Last Post: wendyb