Girl gets bike back.

[hondated]

Just watched on BBC news how a young lady who had her bike stolen managed to get it back.
She reported the loss on social media and a stranger spotted it for sale on line and contacted her. She arranged to view the bike with the seller and keeping very calm asked to test ride it leaving him with a bunch of old keys.
She disappeared up the rode and loaded it into a friend's car and they sped off.
What is so annoying is that she contacted the local police who advised her not to carry out her plan rather than assist her in retrieving her bike.
Ok they're probably busy but how long would it have taken to assist this young lady.
Now the thief will just go and steal another one !

[Redvee]

She arranged to view the bike with the seller and keeping very calm asked to test ride it leaving him with a bunch of old keys.
She disappeared up the rode and loaded it into a friend's car and they sped off.

She wasn't alone, a friend was nearby watching just in case and she handed the seller, or a friend of the seller an empty Rizla packet and a bunch of old keys and whilst his hands were busy with that she grabbed her bike and rode off. She benefitted from a new set of batteries the 'seller' put in her front light as well as getting her bike back.

[ChrisOntLancs]

saw this in one of the indy's "and you won't believe what happened next" tweets so appreciate you posting it.

this is a great story, and one i hadn't considered. why not just... steal your bike back? i've been looking out for mine but i'd probably wait for the police, or go in there guns blazing, and of course i'm into the wrong sport for that sort of behavior.

would love to know how the thief reacted, how long they waited before realising that they'd been had.

[Tangled Metal]

If her local police were like ours she could have given the name of the fence and his/her address where the bike was being kept to no avail. The best the police around here do is book an appointment to search the property a week on Thursday.

BTW I'm not joking there. Someone got a lot of expensive kit stolen. Having had.a dodgy past himself and with a reputation for "looking after himself" he found out who had nicked the kit and where it was. He went to look, walked through the back gate and checked the shed. Great! He found the kit so called the police. They booked the search in for a week on Thursday.

No matter he just got a mate, took his van and loaded it up with his own kit. Then he informed his insurers that he'd recovered most of his kit. Then a call to the police to cancel the raid. With knowing a little of the guy's past I suspect the thief was watching him doing it too, from a prone position!

I'm not a fan of taking matters into your own hands. It's a risk I'll not take. When my bike was stolen colleagues at work knew who stole it. The owner if the other stolen bike got his back but I left it. Partly because I'm not from the same background as those who knew the thief so wasn't told the details, but mostly because it would have meant visiting the thief and using violence. Two wrongs don't make it right IMHO. However an opportunity to use a non-violent means like the lass in this story I'd consider.

[mercalia]

nice story maybe need to be a thread to store them as a sticky?

[Tangled Metal]

Nah! Ramblings of a bored office worker. File them under TL:DR. Well my anecdotes at least.

BTW anyone who talks about confronting the thief/miscreant, have you ever actually done it or just talking about it on a forum? Just a quick query, no.need to answer.

[ChrisOntLancs]

BTW anyone who talks about confronting the thief/miscreant, have you ever actually done it or just talking about it on a forum? Just a quick query, no.need to answer.

speaking about myself, and feeling the need to answer, probably, but i'm not a tough or even remotely assertive guy, so it wouldn't get me anywhere. having thought about it, should i see my old bike on gumtree, i know not to make the mistake. it sounds like the sort of mistake i make a lot. the best you can hope for is that your thief/aggressor denies everything, calls for help and it's your word (stranger) vs theirs (neighbor).

i'm not doing that hypothetical violence thing, where you get the *supposed* glory of violence without having to do the violence. nobody likes that guy. this is a lesson to everybody to stay cool *click* *click* *click*

[Edwards]

Many years ago I supplied a ladies bike to nice lady who collected our son from junior school while I was at work. One evening I got a phone call to say the bike had been stolen and while she was at the local shops she had seen a group of teenagers with the bike. I got in the car and drove around there making it look like I was going into the shop.
On the way past I just got hold of the handlebars and the conversation went as follows.

Me: That is my bike.

Her: (Insert scum bag name) gave it to me.

Me: Well (insert scum bag name) Well he will not be getting his leg over then.

At this point I started to walk off. She attacked scum bag claiming he been boasting things about her and it was all around the neighbourhood. The rest of the girls started giggling and his male mates we laughing at him. One even said "Nice one mate" to me.

No violence on my part just indignation.

My wife said to the policeman the "I had previous" when giving a statement about the van robbery I tried to stop I failed miserably and was left unconscious in the road. The Scroat was found and got 2 years eventually.

But there was a rumour started that his accomplice agreed to be a witness against him to get his charges dropped. Should be interesting when the scroat gets out and meets his mate again.
I wonder who could have started such a nasty rumour.

[axel_knutt]

Someone at work found his own car after it had been stolen. The police warned him that it would be illegal to take it back himself, not least because the current custodian might not be the thief.

[PH]

Someone at work found his own car after it had been stolen. The police warned him that it would be illegal to take it back himself, not least because the current custodian might not be the thief.

Does that matter? They may not be the thief, but neither are they the legal owner. Buying stolen property doesn't make it yours however innocent you are.