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Out for a ride this evening and stopped for a quick pint in central Glasgow with my Surly Pacer locked to the fence outside. This pub had a big clear window facing the street so naturally I sat there so I could watch my bike. Halfway through my pint I noticed three neds paying the bike close attention and stopping beside it. Then one of them starts removing the front light from the handlebar. I was out the door like Usain Bolt and caught up with him before he was more than a few steps away from the bike with the light in his hand. His two pals had walked away first and were 15 yards away. I had a 6" height and 6 stone weight advantage on him so he claimed he was just joking with his friends and handed it back without any argument.
As I turned to walk back to the pub I saw three of the locals had come out the door after me. If I had had any problems they would have helped out. They said "next time bring your bike in."
Alls well that ends well. Why can scum not keep their hands off other people's property. This is actually the only time I have had anything stolen off my bike when it was parked in Glasgow. A cheap Planet X light anyway but that isn't the point.
It's inconvenient at best. Chatting to a colleague, and someone had knicked his cheap lights earlier in the week, from the staff access bike cage FFS. No lights and it could be a walk.
Some people are always looking for any opportunities to take anything they think they can get away with. An unfortunate part of life!
Good to hear that you didn’t get any more aggro and that the locals backed you up.
It's a win being allowed to bring the bike in !
Which pub? They need praising in some way.
Which Pub? Jackson's, Cambridge Street. Not quite city centre felt more like a locals pub for Garnethill area.
Sure, but why leave lights on a locked bike?
I've done it for 40 years and this is the first time I have had a light stolen. I'll accept the risk rather than the hassle of removing them every time I park it.
Okay, that's surprising to me. I won't nip into a shop without removing lights (cheapie lights, rusty pub bike).
I will however leave my lights on a pub table next to my pint glass to indicate I'm still sat there, at which point my lights become invisible somehow.
The dickhead probably doesn’t even have a bike to put it on. Some folks will take anything. I had a Japanese Maple stolen from outside my back door a couple of months back. Door is hidden from sight too. Bought the plant when we moved in and I’ve enjoyed watching it grow over the years. Bastards.
Had many bikes stolen when young, my fault for not locking up securely enough. Did once catch someone in the act. I don't have the self-control of the OP.
I don’t have the self-control of the OP.
Not a problem here. I was far angrier the time I caught a female of the travelling persuasion stealing my dog. But I did even then manage not to lose it as I took the lead back from her. Tied the dog up outside an off sales and came out literally 2 minutes later if not less to see my dog being walked away 30 yards up the road.
But that was back in the 1980s. Also central Glasgow. In between nothing personally though my dauhter had a pannier stolen off her bike. Which reminds me I must zip tie the pannier that sits full time on the other bike I use for trips into Glasgow. Not very secure but enough to stop dickheads like the one today just lifting it off.
“my fault for not locking up securely enough….”
No, their fault for being thieves. The mentality that the victim is to blame needs to die. sorry to hear you were robbed, its shit.
I once locked my bike up on a (I think Lancaster) railway station platform while nipping into the cafe. A little scrote almost immediately started fiddling with the seatpost QR so I shot out and told him to get the **** out of it - at which point his mum stepped in and said he wouldn't steal it now because they were off to visit his dad in prison...
They are not my favourite people at the moment as had garage broken into and bike stolen Tuesday night. My only bike so very annoyed combined with not realising the excess on my insurance for the broken door is £400 (never played close attention to it as haven't claimed in 20 years)
There's something to be said for designs like Exposure lights with their convenient quick-release mounts
Isn't most crime opportunistic? Remove the opportunity and there is no crime.
Sad way of thinking I know, but then I grew up on a council estate in the 80's and if it wasn't nailed down then it was fair game to get nicked.
Some police advice
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19485308.amp/
Can only see theft going up as the cost of living goes up.
Well done OP on getting your light back.
at which point his mum stepped in and said he wouldn’t steal it now because they were off to visit his dad in prison…
The prison is basically next door to the station if I remember from my uni days so the story checks out at least!
Sad way of thinking I know, but then I grew up on a council estate in the 80’s and if it wasn’t nailed down then it was fair game to get nicked.
Spending 4 years in Liverpool taught me that if it was bolted down, they had the spanner or hammer to unbolt it.
One of Ministry's best songs, though 🤔
One of Ministry’s best songs, though
Ah yes, track with so much inherent malice that even this cover by Big D and the Kids Table manages to make brass inflected Pop Punk sound weirdly evil.
Caught a heroin-enthusiast nicking the under-seat bag off my bike, outside of Morrisons. I was only in there 5 minutes at 9.30am. He claimed that he thought the bike had been abandoned before wandering off swearing and making threats.
There was only a mini- pump and a tube in it. Have to remember to put this kit in whichever backpack I'm using now but often forget so there's always a chance I'll end up pushing it home
(Yes, tubes. How quaint?)
Spending 4 years in Liverpool taught me that if it was bolted down, they had the spanner or hammer to unbolt it.
Living the stereotype.
Years ago, my mum's boss parked up his new BMW in a car park in Liverpool. When he came back to it it was up on bricks with his shiny alloy wheels long gone. He went to a payphone (different times) to report the theft, when he returned someone had stolen the bricks.
I feel uncomfortable parking my car in the Glasgow city centre these days, never mind locking a bike up. Trying to think what pub with big windows has a fence opposite. Smokin' Fox?
Edit: Just seen it was a placed called Jacksons. A new one for me. Big bike in the window. Is it a cycling themed pub?
Spending 4 years in Liverpool taught me that if it was bolted down, they had the spanner or hammer to unbolt it.
Living the stereotype.
I parked my car outside Renshaws marzipan factory while I went for an interview there, 30 years ago. The receptionist asked if I'd parked in the compound, and I replied that it was outside but was ok because my sister was sitting in it. The receptionist looked very worried and forced me to bring the car in. 😀
(I've been to Liverpool many times since, always enjoy it and have never felt unsafe.)
Living the stereotype.
Me mam and nan were a scouse, I woz born this way.
Spending 4 years in Liverpool taught me that if it was bolted down, they had the spanner or hammer to unbolt it.
Sister was a landscape architect for LCC 30 odd years ago, anything fitted had to be bolted down, nuts welded and security on site until concrete or resin went off.
A friend of mine was at university at Liverpool, where he lived the laundry facilities were in a basement room. He once came down to be confronted by a wet soapy floor, an opened machine and a bold young local squeezing into a very wet pair of jeans over the top of his own.
There’s something to be said for designs like Exposure lights with their convenient quick-release mounts
Not being easy enough to remove quickly doesn't seem to be the problem here
A friend of mine was at university at Liverpool, where he lived the laundry facilities were in a basement room. He once came down to be confronted by a wet soapy floor, an opened machine and a bold young local squeezing into a very wet pair of jeans over the top of his own.
Pfffft.
I sat on the jetty in the docks, rescue boat in front of a colleague and myself having lunch. Keys and deadman hanging off our bouyancy aids.
Two lads climbed the fence, walked past us and jumped in the boat. My colleague coughed and twirled the keys. They just opened the outboard up and started lifting the seat to hotwire it....
In. Front. Of. Us.
.
.
Another time I had a lad and friends in school uniform pull up outside our house. In the stolen Aston Martin.
.
.
Then there's the time 4 bikes were stolen from our garage. Police came to take a statement.
10 mins later there's a big crash bang - and the 5th bike I was riding at the time was stolen.
.
.
Or the time friends who were local youth workers had their car stolen from outside thier new house.
Word was put out the youth workers car was nicked.
A couple of days later the car was returned to the new house, with a note and a couple of flowers to say sorry, didn't realise it was your car.
.
.
(I could go on.. Living in Toxteth for three years teaches you a lot.)
Shoplifters in Alexandria used to get private hire taxis down to Dumbarton and get them to wait while they did their "shopping". In one case the shoplifter left the shop and was followed by the store security a few yards back. Jumped into the taxi and a tyre screeching getaway. In that case there was good CCTV. The thief was later traced and charged. Taxi driver traced and reported to local licensing and got a warning on his licence after a hearing at the licensing board.
Not quite enough to charge the driver with aiding and abbetting the theft but will have cost him half a day off work and a lawyer's fee for the hearing.
But anyone can be a taxi driver in Dumbarton.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/convicted-dumbarton-heroin-dealer-handed-14056598
Heh, some of these remind me of living in Weaste, in Salford, late 90's.
Lots of stories, but the best was probably my mate Ted walking up Bolton Road past a bloke in a BMW that had just pulled over to look at a map or something. Engine still running. A scally passing in the opposite direction eyes up the car, looks at Ted and says 'Eyar mate, wanna help me drag this **** out his car and we'll have it?' Ted says, 'No', and the scally just goes 'Fine, **** you then,' and heads off down towards the Crescent, on his merry way.
matt outandabout
(I could go on.. Living in Toxteth for three years teaches you a lot.)
Working there for 27 years teaches you even more!
I love Liverpool but some of the stereotypes really do exist, oh and getting shot at while working on top of silo's isn't fun. Thankfully we had a good relationship with the local CID who got us out of a few situations 😉
Why leave lights in a bike? Why leave a saddle or brakes? Because I shouldn't need to strip the bike any time I park it.
Past experience has been fine anyway. If I hadn't seen this happening it would have cost me £10 in stolen lights over donkeys years and saved me far more than £19 worth of hassle.
The light concerned has one of those stretchy rubber straps rather than a proper mount. So I have now cable ties it on. I still won,t be stripping my bike every time I park it for 30 mins in a busy street.
I've family in Liverpool and love it. The city has really turned around in recent years and is, in many ways more vibrant and optimistic than in it's recent past. But yes, some of the stereotypes are true. I've many anecdotes but my favourite is from many years ago in the 1980s when I was a young squaddie in Northern Ireland.
I was in a small unit, living in an old textile mill in South Armagh. The resident infantry battalion when I got there was 42 Commando RM. As an attached sub unit, we had to comply with their Naval idiosyncrasies, calling the cookhouse 'the galley', the bogs 'heads' etc. One of the things the bootnecks insisted on, was when you did sports or PT, you left your smelly trainers outside the door of your bunk in the corridor. Quite sensible really and less minging than having them fester in your locker in a small shared room.
Then there was a battalion changeover and the Kings Regiment arrived. For the uninitiated, 'the Kingos', long since amalgamated were a regiment of scallies, primarily recruited around Liverpool. Within a day of them arriving, EVERY SINGLE PAIR of trainers belonging to us and the other attached sub units, probably 100 pairs, were nicked from outside our bunks!
I had always thought the Liverpool thing was a stereotype until…As a student in my 30’s I spent the holidays putting up corporate hospitality for the golf, Southampton boat show etc. We were at Aintree taking down the grand national and locals were nicking the fittings out the portaloos. Now; imagine what those toilets looked like after however many days of the racing.
Used to do a helicopter retrieval job moving sick babies between hospitals. We had a delayed departure once because the locals had stolen the pilots helmets from the helicopter!! It wasn't Liverpool
Op, if you're big enough should have given the little **** a good smack across the side of the head. Totally justified and he might think twice again in the future. He's hardly likely to go to the police is he.
My mate had an attempted robbery of his bike while he was riding it in daylight in Hanley. Now Stoke-on-Trent on trent has a rep as a bit of a shithole but generally crime isn't too high and daylight muggings are relatively uncommon. These scrotes on bikes rode alongside him, one said 'nice bike, I'm having that' and one tried to yank him by grabbing his jacket. Fortunately he wriggled free and gave it beans off down the road and the scrotes couldn't keep up. Victim blaming...perhaps he shouldn't be riding his 3k full susser on the commute. I suggested cable tied collapsable cosh to the frame. I'm not usually a violent person but a good thwack with that will be more memorable than a caution from a copper. 🙂
When I used to bike commmute part was along a canal bank. One night heading in for the nightshift there was a group of 4 or 5 neds who saw me coming and spread out over the towpath to stop me. I just speeded up and went on a collision course. They bottled it at the last moment and stepped aside. In the same area years ago. nurse got pulled off her bike and got a broken arm.
Lest anyone think I am overstating the risks anybody remember the Kevin McDermott Orchestra?
A musician has told of being struck on the head with a lump of concrete in an attack by a group of youths at a Glasgow underpass.
Singer-songwriter Kevin McDermott, who was riding an electric scooter, said the helmet he was wearing saved him from serious injury. He was attacked on Monday afternoon when he stopped after finding the path blocked by branches.Police Scotland said it was investigating the incident. Mr McDermott, 60, said the attack came while he was taking "a little putter" along the Kelvin Walkway in the Maryhill area of the city.
He said it was fortunate he had chosen to wear his helmet.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-61307622
These things are actually pretty rare. I used the canal bank and the Kelvin Walkway for odd parts of my commute with very few issues.
MrOvershoot
getting shot at while working on top of silo’s isn’t fun.
Is that where the username comes from? 😀