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Got back from hols last night and left the bikes on the back of the car all locked up snug. My wife goes out to get supplies from the corner shop this morning and everything is still good to go so we can start sorting after breakfast. When she comes back the contents of a pannier are across the path, with only my skanky helmet and a couple of allen keys missing. Expensive shoes, wife's helmet and all the kids kit was not touched as were a random pair of Park wire cutters and mole grips that were left.
I will be on the lookout for the said their cycling past in my old battered lid, but that was rather specific peice of theivery.
Just thinking what others have been left scratching heads about having had taken.........
PS Great holiday not ruined by now "having" to go and buy new kit 😉
Some thieves are really not very clever. This is not news 🙂 I once had my free (ie cheap crappy) pair of prescription sunglasses stolen. Good luck selling those on 🙂
left the bikes on the back of the car all locked up snug
That's a massivley bad idea though - bike racks are not hard to break, and it advertises that you have nice bikes to any old scrote passing by.
May mate got his car broken into on a pub car park one night - his company mobile phone was in a pocket on the centre console, so what did Mr junkie take?
Correct, his RayBans and a packet of chewing gum...
My car was broken into a few years ago and, I kid you not, my Tesco Clubcard was the only thing stolen!!!!! Shades, CD's etc not touched.
My car was once broken into and they stole the cable from the CD changer in the boot. Not the changer itself mind, just the cable.
I once had a kiddies trailer stolen from my back yard
They left the wheels [ which they had to pick up to get to the frame]
We left our car unlocked for a week once, and someone nicked the packet of mints from the glove box and nothing else. Which probably says something about our CD collection (or the general undesirability of CDs as a thing to nick nowadays).
Friend's car at uni was broken in to regularly. Thief would nick stuff like a can of deicer, a duster, a furry seat cover and a pencil, but totally missed the EOS SLR camera that had been left in there by mistake.
We knew the guilty party though. Idiot that lived opposite. We got him arrested when he tried to gate crash our party. Pillock.
We've had a 5 bar gate nicked from a field. proper random devon theft that one...
More a random tale...
My cousin had his old Alfa Romeo stolen last year, but the thief had taste as he left his Kylie Minogue and Mel B CD's on there end on the kerb where the car had been
our student house was burgled when we were away, they took some clothes, some CDs and a bottle of Jack Daniels. they tried to take a large tin can full of pennies but that was obviously too heavy. the surprising part was that they left a Playstation, an N64 (this was 10+ years ago), 3 televisions, two laptops, a high-spec PC and a couple of small stereos.
we also had a 30kg punch bag stolen from the back yard another time - that can't have been easy to run off with...
I'm pretty sure I had a (Superstar) singlespeed tensioner nicked from my bike at a station. It had been giving me a bit of grief on the ride in so I definitely checked it was still attached when I arrived and doubt it fell off while I was locking the bike up, but it was gone when I got back. Made for an irritating ride home, but an entertaining chat with Charlie the Bikemonger who sorted me out with some decent kit.
had my dh bike stolen. police recovered it a month later. in one piece. only thing missing.... my orange maxxis dustcaps
Garage broken into a few weeks ago. They stole some boxes of old kiddy shoes, a carrier bag full of my wifes old handbags and my pop up gazebo.
odd
Car steering wheel
Car was broken into, I assume to nick the car, and I assume a lever was used to try and break the steering column lock. Instead, the column itself sheared at the splines where the wheel mounts. made off with the steering wheel!
At uni, house broken in to, on Viole(n)t Rd, in that Southampton...
They only got in to one room, belonging to the daughter of a very senior banker. Said room contained rather a large amount of shiny things, jewels, silver photo frames, etc. They stole a broken stereo, and left everything else undisturbed.
At uni, house broken in to, on Viole(n)t Rd, in that Southampton
Funnily enough... that's where our thefts took place too.
edit: except for the invisible SLR incident, which was in Monte Halls carpark.
Funnily enough... that's where our thefts took place too.
😆
Someone stole my hosepipe and an empty hippo bag from our house just after we bought it and it was uninhabitable. Cycled past to wash my bike after a ride before heading back to the flat we were living in at the time. I was dumbfounded that such a thing went missing. I honestly thought that I'd moved it at first.
Good choice of uni though 🙂
About 4000 police road cones went missing too, when they diverted the M27 thru the student halls one weekend.
And in the aforementioned street in the Flowers estate, some roadworkers dug a hole at 3pm one afternoon put up barriers and flashing lights, and boogered off. By 4pm everything had been nicked, leaving a hole in the road.
edit: and feel sorry for anyone who had to live in Pansy Road 😉
A William Walton cassette and an ice axe from the boot of my car. I hope to heck there wasn't some Clockwork Orange type incident on the streets of Toxteth afterwards.
When I was in halls at uni, some bloke broke into the neighbouring block while a load of the inhabitants were in one blokes room getting stoned.
A girl who wasn't joining in the smoking session went to have a bath and found blood up the walls and in the bath with big handprint smears.
She thought someone had been murdered, screamed the place down and the crowd of half stoned students came running to her aid. They searched their block and found the bloke who had broken in cowering in a shower room trying to staunch some rather serious bleeding.
He had nicked a tin of Ambrosia rice pudding from one of the kitchens and had retreated to the bathroom to eat it. Rather than nicking a can opener at the same time, he tried to use a swiss army knife to open the can, got it wrong and slashed his hand open pretty badly.....
The Police turned up and apparently he was well known to them. he was addicted to the thrill of stealing so had a long list of minor thefts to his name.
My Dad used to be a black cab driver and had his cab broken into no the drive one night. They nicked a really old knackered battery radio and took the rear-view mirror - but not the whole thing; they had somehow opened up the 'socket' part of the 'ball and socket' and just taken the mirror with ball attached, but no socket to put it in.
Funny thing was our boxer had been going nuts and barking like mad and jumping up to the window, which was really not her normal behaviour. My dad kept telling her off and pulling her away from the window. Think he felt a bit stupid the next morning!
EDIT - oh and a group of yoofs mugged me once. Stopped me in the street and got me to empty my pockets out (broad daylight on a busy Wembley high road and no one helped, even though plenty could see what was going on). I think they were a bit disappointed when all I had to offer them was a Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction casette and a baseball bat keyring. They took the keyring. I don't think they were Megadeth fans....!
We've had a 5 bar gate nicked from a field. proper random devon theft that one...
Had the perpetrator taken on eof the panels, he'd have taken offense...
Soz, its really not funny
I had my Saxo broken into years ago all they stole was the tax disc. I think it only had about 2 months left on it which probably amounted to £20 at most. They'd trashed the passanger door tyring to break the lock with a screwdriver it had 3 or 4 holes in where they'd missed!! Numskulls
edit: except for the invisible SLR incident, which was in Monte Halls carpark.
Monte!! C block veteran, 98-01. good days....
Our Uni house was broken into over the hols and squatters moved in. In an opposite vein to this thread they actually left a massive pile of porn mags in the living room when evicted, as they'd apparently just turned over a shop (when I say massive, the Police had to make two trips to get rid of it all - well most of it, ahem).
Ditto! Well Monte A-block then Viole(n)t Road then Monte C-block (overlooking the old pavilion bar, that's now gone). '89-'92.
A friend of mine had an anvil stolen from a farmyard.
Another friend had the gearbox stolen from his truck. 😯
Apparently, there's a good export market for Bedford TK gearboxes, there's plenty of ground clearance, so no need to jack it up, and it only takes ten minutes to undo the propshaft and the four bolts that hold the gearbox to the engine.
Working at a Mercedes commercial dealer, we had the catalytic converters stolen off all the vans one night.
After that, they were stored inside and only fitted when the van was sold.
My car was stolen from a local pub, I got a call from the police saying it had been found a few miles away.
Nothing missing, no damage all was fine. Though the thieves kindly left me a swiss army knife.
Ditto! Well Monte A-block then Viole(n)t Road then Monte C-block (overlooking the old pavilion bar, that's now gone). '89-'92.
Monte? Scum. Glen Eyre was the place to be. 90-93. Although I did get my kettle nicked by someone presumably from the Flowers.
In Woodhouse, Leeds I once left the door open for five mins whilst I walked to Londis and back. On the way back I was threatened with a butter knife by one of the local feral children - not an unusual event but I recognised the knife*, it was ours! Realising my mistake I legged it home only to discover that they'd ignored the bikes in the kitchen, the playstation, telly etc. and just stolen the butter knife.
*It had zoo animals on the handle, I loved that cutlery.
Years ago my sister was flying out for a long trip to Thailand. On the Sunday I drove her down to Heathrow then straight back to Leeds. Before she left she handed me a pile of cash and asked if I could pay it into the bank for her. Being knackered after the drive I put it on the side and completely forgot to pick it up on the Monday morning.
Got home from work on Monday evening and I'd been burgled. They'd been through a tin I kept expired ID cards (from when I'd been a student abroad - quite crap keepsakes, but never mind...) and foreign loose change in but failed to notice the big pile of £20 notes sitting on the side in the same room...
car window smashed to steal the tax disk, that was out of date. New one arrived in the post the next day
I had my old astra nicked
some scally drove off in it as I walked up, in a panic i threw a plastic drinks bottle i was holding at the windscreen (it bounced off fortunately)
hours later I saw my car driving past
rang the police, they chased him and he crashed it into a wall and got away
couldnt get my car back as the police believed it had stolen goods- it did; about 6 dozen eggs 3 cases of toilet rolls and about 20 bottles of baby lotion.
My Auntie awoke one morning to find the windscreen of her ford fiesta had been carefully removed & stolen.
On contacting the insurance she was told it wasn't covered as it wasn't technically part of the car!
I once had a Tag stolen.
The naughty robber would have been pissed off when he got home to find it was a £5 Tenerife Special. 😆
I think you'll find the condemned stoneham tower was the place - followed by a house almost opposite the hogshead.
I remember the flower's estate well & seeing the B&Q flag & flagpole nicked and sticking through the house down the road only conforms its reputation
When I was a kid, we had a break-in, and the thief stole a wallet and a giant box of choc-ices from the freezer.
Police arrived promptly, and followed a trail of shiny choc-ice wrappers down three streets, into a close, up the stairs, to a door with a chocolatey hand print on it. Knocked on the door, and it was opened by a scroat with chocolate around his mouth.
The officer said it was his fastest burglary result ever 😉
Stoneham, Stoneham, Stoneham.
"A steaming tower of love" as my best mate dave used to call it...
Ohh, and and old school-friend was once disturbed when breaking into someone's house - she heard him in her bedroom and called the plod.
They found him hiding at the bottom of her garden dressed in her underwear.
After a day walking in a rainy, wintry Peak district we went for a curry back in Rusholme.Mate had his company car broken into. They left behind his mobile phone ,laptop and briefcase and made off with a carrier bag containing his soaking, sweaty walking socks and torn muddy overtrousers.
This one sounds too good to be true, so it probably is - student flat got burgled, everything of value nicked except 'There is nothing left to lose' CD by the Foos left in the middle of the floor.
Just been for a walk down the road and fond that Park tyre levers don't make the grade either. Will go further down and see if they realised how bad the helmet was as well.
Stoneham? Stoneham? Where's your bar? LA! LA! LA!
Stoneham? Stoneham? Where's your bar? LA! LA! LA!
🙂
Someone stole our green wheelie bin from outside our house after it had been emptied on collection day. The council replaced it for free.
lol @ CFH 🙂 😆
Monte was the best bar. "Get Slayed!"
Craving for a Mega Jawbreaker from Nev's Burger van now. Dunno Why.
Monte F block here, like A/B block only less than 20 people per shower 😀
[i]Apparently, there's a good export market for Bedford TK gearboxes,[/i]
A farmer I knew went out to start his Bedford TK cattle truck one morning, wouldn't start so he thought the battery was flat. He had a look under the engine cover but it was covering nothing. The engine & gearbox had gone!
I had a shop on my petrol station which was broken into, all they took was a dustbin & ALL the confectionery. They even left the cigarettes.
Wife's car was broken into & all they took was a cheapo ice scraper, & it wasn't even winter.
Monte was the best bar.
FACT!
Anyone else suffer a Grendel there?
Came back from a ride one evening to find my dad's Panda (didn't have my own car then) with the door wide open. Thought the worst as I had my discman, a load of CD's and my wallet with £50 in the passenger footwell.
No damage to the car as they'd levered the top of the window frame to get at the lock pin. All they took was the post-ride pack of Jelly Babies from the cubby in the dash. Was properly gutted - and hungry!!
Only went up to E when I was there (and E was half a block).
Thought old A had gone? Or was it B and A left? (off to check streetview... blimey... what have they done? reception and the A-B link has been stolen and the thieves left 2 new residential blocks behind)
Anyone else suffer a Grendel there?
2
on my 21st
jeez that one kinda hit instantly 20minutes later.
one guy did a yard, and the bar staff snatched the yard as the last drips went down, while we manhandled the guy to the open pavilion windows expecting a turquoise chunder, but he shook us off went to the bar and ordered a pint.
Some crackers in this thread and some reminders of stuff that's happened to me or mates.
Had an exhaust back box nicked at college, had to drive home sounding like a tank.
My mate had his van broken into and they took his tube of Jaffa Cakes and nothing else.
I went on a day trip to Dorset, got back and someone had nicked the front indicator out of my companies Vivaro.
Someone tried stealing petrol out of my car, but all they acheived was pulling the filler neck through the 1/4 panel, 1980s Fords were rot boxes
On a different note, at my mates one night just watching TV and some kids posted a women's magazine through his letterbox, when challenged they just said " happy Xmas " wasn't even Xmas......
Shop next to mine used to be a newsagents - one night someone broke in through the roof. He missed all the alcohol, but took one carton of cigarettes, and left behind a very nice leather jacket.
With his bail papers from Hamilton Sheriff Court in the pocket, giving his name and address.
Left my car unlocked and had my tax disc stolen. It only had a month left but the idiot still put it in his car just down the road. Spotted it, called the police and they towed the car. Hopefully it was crushed.
Me and a mate were out for a midweek walk in the Goyt Valley. We got back to the car to find his drivers side door lock trashed and the car open. They didn't appear to have taken anything, then as we set off home there was an anguished cry: "bastards!!!! They've nicked me Creme Eggs!!!"
The missus recently had a break in at her office.
Ignored her iMac and stole a bag of drumstick lollies.
Bastards.
My combination bike lock.
Huh?!?!
Shop next to mine used to be a newsagents - one night someone broke in through the roof
Hang on - niche expensive bike shop next to a newsagents - which one would you break into?
My brother once had his knackered old Ford Escort stolen.
It was 'found' 100 metres down the road with the dodgy gearstick (which had come off in the thief's hands) on the back seat and with the engine still running.
Years back a mate borrowed his mum's car and we drove to Glasgow to see a band (Slipknot I think). Car inevitably got broken into, thieves made off with 2 cans of diet coke and my mate's 3rd year actuarial maths and statistics course notes (they actually emptied his rucksack out onto the seat and left it and everything else in it behind, other than the study notes).
Have to say that as fashion criticism goes, having someone move your jacket out of the way so they can steal some cans of fizz is pretty harsh.
Hang on - niche expensive bike shop next to a newsagents - which one would you break into?
You can't smoke a Brompton.
thieves made off with ... my mate's 3rd year actuarial maths and statistics course notes
The thieves were surely trying to help your friend 😉
You can't smoke a Brompton
You can however sell them on and buy lots of packets of cigarettes.
This just goes to show what burglars are thinking - half of them are too stupid or wasted to know what they are doing, and at least some of the other half probably are just doing it for kicks.
My parents got burgled many times in their old house - backed onto a field, on the other side was a rough council estate.
Usually they took easily sell-able electrical goods. Once though, they took a bottle of Liebfraumilch. And that was all...
Once when bikes were locked to rack on the car parked at Wetherby services, I had the star-shaped top cap from my Maverick SC32 forks nicked.
I had a resin cat taken from the front garden - it was life size and weighed about 20kg.
20 yrs ago my neighbour had his ford orion boot knicked. To do this they carefully removed rear screen (from the outside) and dropped back seat to slide under and unbolt boot lid - all in a suburban north london street at night under a street light, without disturbing a soul.
A frikking Orion, and after they had ceased production FFS.
Other neighbour found car hardly balanced on 2 bricks under the sill (one on top the other) and 2 alloys missing. Stupidly after putting 2 temporary steel rims on it she parked it the other way round and 3 days later....you get it. The even used the same 2 bricks which she had just left in her front garden!
Just remember 2 more.
My mates Dad had the rear spoiler nicked off his Astra.
A neighbour, not so much theft more vandalism, parked his Reliant Robin up on the outskirts of Wigan town centre whilst he went shopping, came back and someone had tipped it onto its boot.
Looked like a rocket taking off.
He had to get recovery to come and get it back on its wheels.
few weeks ago the shop was broken into, they tore up some paperwork, and stole several envelopes full of shelf edge price labels... oh and they had a rifle through the confidential waste. They left the safe alone...
You can however sell them on and buy lots of packets of cigarettes
Bromptons are bulky and identifiable. You would have to store them while you found buyers. Other scumbags won't be interested in them.
Fags are lightweight, low bulk and really easy to sell. It is also really hard to prove they are stolen.
In chester a few cars had their fuel lines cut, and petrol drained into bottles,any spare petrol was just let run onto the road, luckily the milkman smelt petrol and phoned the fire brigade, before someone had an early morning fag.
Got accused of nicking a plate out of the cheapo microwave at a house we where working at, it was found a few days latter in the dish washer.
CaptainFlashheart - Member
Stoneham? Stoneham? Where's your bar? LA! LA! LA!
Stoneham? Stoneham? Where's your bar? LA! LA! LA!
it was downstairs - i worked in it for 3 years!
I once had a tent stolen whilst I was asleep in it.
It was before the days of sewn in groundsheets and yes, I was very, very drunk. 😀
They left my boots & socks, which was nice.
Sister and her husband had a beige Austin Montego years ago (I know, I know).
BiL come out one morning to go to work, starts car and thinks firstly "hmm, engine seems louder than usual", and secondly, "I can see the engine!"
Someone had come onto their drive in the night and nicked the bonnet!
Mate of mine lost his darts a couple of weeks ago. He denies it but I figure it was a beer-related incident.
They were his pride and joy so he traced down and ordered an identical set, same shafts, flights and all.
Week later, his car was broken into. They left his stereo, CDs, sunglasses, everything, just made off with... his new darts.
When I lived in Manchester, someone broke into my old mini and pinched the knob off the top of the gearstick.
In the same street, I left my bike locked up outside the doctors surgery and came back to find that someone had tried to pinch the quick-release seat post and saddle (but evidently gave up, as I had locked the saddle to the frame) and just made off with the quick-release lever.
Fair things robbed in the past but looking back seem pretty funny.
Student flat was broken into - robbed my course notes which consisted of a few titles and a few very well drawn cocks...
Car broken into when walking in the peaks - flips flops, me kagool & some waterproof trousers gone - ignored 3k in camera equipment.
When i worked in a hospital one of our patients went in for some minor tests, while there he had a heart attack,crash team called, they grabed the old defribulator,at the time it was trolley based and needed a power supply, some low life had cut the plug off it.
It was then decided all plugs should be red and have HOSPITAL engraved on them.
Took a hire car back to the depot, chap comes out starts shining uv torch on tyres, engine bits etc, when asked why, he said people where hiring cars for a weekend and stripping the new bits, and replacing with older parts suitably cleaned up.
Lockup was broken into. Unable to start the bike, the fekkers got the petrol tank open and made off with the petrol.
Oh, one of mine.
I had a new bathroom suite fitted following the old bath splitting and turning my living room into a tropical rain forest. No great loss, the old suite was a 70s vintage in sun-bleached bronchitis yellow.
We got a skip, started hoying out the old suite. Threw the bog in the skip, and in the time it took us to get the bath out and downstairs someone had had it away with the throne.
Who the hell wants a forty year old, pus-coloured, second-hand crapper? People are weird.