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Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 4 Nov 2018, 10:39am
by thirdcrank
Over the years we've had several threads about the authorities removing apparently abandoned bikes from cycle parking and railings. The subject has also cropped up in relation to work-place cycle parking.

Dozens of abandoned Cambridge station bicycles seized
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-c ... e-46077089

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 4 Nov 2018, 11:16am
by gaz
Given discusions on this over the years, it seems a reasonable policy to me.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 4 Nov 2018, 12:03pm
by kwackers
I remember what looked like a new Cannondale in the local station, one day it had a flat tyre and it stayed there for at least 6 months that I know of just collecting crap and starting to look sorry for itself.
I don't remember it being moved but I don't think it's there anymore so someone must have shifted it.

Abandoned bikes are just litter. I've no problems with them being removed.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 11:18am
by iandriver
You have to spend a while in Cambridge to get the cycle scene here. It's very normalised and the bike itself is nothing but a means to an end to get around. Most the people riding them have no interest in cycling whatsoever as even a mild enthusiast might.

It also has a very transient population in terms of students and workers. For people to move on and simply leave their bike wherever it was locked, never to think of it again is surprisingly common. So is abandoning the whole thing if it has a mechanical. They are generally wrecks that aren't economic to have repaired by a bike shop. The owners will have zero interest in learning to fix it themselves. Cycle racks are at a real premium here. The problem with abandoned bikes really is a big issue.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 2:51pm
by mjr
iandriver wrote:Cycle racks are at a real premium here. The problem with abandoned bikes really is a big issue.

Yep, I remember the old station racks with bikes daisy-chain-locked 4 or more deep and the ones nearest the stand had clearly not moved for months or years. Tagging for 2 weeks and then impounding for 3 months before donating to charity seems like a very reasonable policy - ideally, put that on a sign by the entrance/exit, motoring style "[P] o^o max 2 weeks".

However... the same approach doesn't seem to be taken with cars dumped in "free" car parks in many places - not that Cambridge has many of those!

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 4:12pm
by Mick F
There's often bikes locked to the Sheffield Stands at Plymouth railway station for months. Some have been stripped down to the bare frame, and eventually they get removed by the station staff.

Seen one locked to railings in the city centre Mayflower Street only yesterday. Looked like it had been there weeks. No handlebars and a flat front tyre.
I see it was there when Google SV went through in August! :lol:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.37333 ... 312!8i6656

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 5:03pm
by Vetus Ossa
Mick F wrote:There's often bikes locked to the Sheffield Stands at Plymouth railway station for months. Some have been stripped down to the bare frame, and eventually they get removed by the station staff.

Seen one locked to railings in the city centre Mayflower Street only yesterday. Looked like it had been there weeks. No handlebars and a flat front tyre.
I see it was there when Google SV went through in August! :lol:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.37333 ... 312!8i6656


I lock my bike there when using the library, but neither of those are mine.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 5:15pm
by Mick F
Yes, there's a few there now and again.
Often ride there ........................or walk past there from the station. If Mrs Mick F and me are in town our first port of call is Barista Brothers.

Yesterday, I took a long ish ride from here out to St Ive to turn south and go through Blunts to Notter Bridge, then the back lanes over the hill and onto the main road to cross the Tamar Bridge, then down through Devonport and to the station to buy a Devon and Cornwall Railcard.
Then, down into town to Wetherspoon's on Union Street for a couple of beers and a packet of peanuts, before going back to the station for the 14:54 train home to Gunnislake.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 7 Nov 2018, 12:40pm
by Bmblbzzz
mjr wrote:However... the same approach doesn't seem to be taken with cars dumped in "free" car parks in many places - not that Cambridge has many of those!

Good point, but the obvious differences: motor vehicles' owners are traceable through reg plates, they are less frequently abandoned (as opposed to left unmoved), and many car parks (though not the free ones) are private property. However, occasionally councils do carry out a similar "ticket, wait and tow" programme where abandoned cars are known to be a problem. Perhaps not frequently enough.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 9 Nov 2018, 3:16pm
by Bmblbzzz
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Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 13 Nov 2018, 10:12pm
by mercalia
Where did they get these strange speakers? Do they still exist ?

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 14 Nov 2018, 12:13pm
by mjr
Bmblbzzz wrote:
mjr wrote:However... the same approach doesn't seem to be taken with cars dumped in "free" car parks in many places - not that Cambridge has many of those!

Good point, but the obvious differences: motor vehicles' owners are traceable through reg plates, they are less frequently abandoned (as opposed to left unmoved), and many car parks (though not the free ones) are private property. However, occasionally councils do carry out a similar "ticket, wait and tow" programme where abandoned cars are known to be a problem. Perhaps not frequently enough.

Those differences are smaller than suggested: reg plates give you the reg keeper not the owner and many bicycle owners are now traceable through frame numbers; bicycles left unmoved for two weeks are being treated as abandoned and plenty of cars are left unmoved that long (including my own, but that's on land I manage); and many cycle parks (including the Cambridge station one in the OP) are private property.

I doubt that car ticket-wait-tow operations are carried out as often as cycle ones because thanks to double standards, the smaller vehicles seem to be considered a bigger problem.

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 14 Nov 2018, 12:50pm
by Bmblbzzz
I think these are several different situations. If the private land is a car park or similar, then there's probably some contract you agree to which no doubt includes a provision on vehicles left for a long time. At a guess a year and a day would be typical. If it's your own land, then it's an eyesore but action is limited. If OTOH a car is abandoned on a public road, I don't know what the law says but I've known LAs carry out removals. It is rare certainly. Not always easy to distinguish between an abandoned car and one that simply hasn't been driven for ages; many remain in one spot on the road without moving for many months.

The distinction between registered keeper and owner is irrelevant, for parking purposes they are treated as the same.

Probably one of the biggest differences is that abandoned cars are usually dumped in out of the way places, where there's little pressure on parking, but abandoned bikes do get left at city centre Sheffield racks. In Cambridge these might be privately owned but Cambridge is highly atypical. Most places they're on pavements, public highway. Also, round here I think they give a month from ticketing to removal, not two weeks. As for how long the bike might have been there beforehand, could be anything from a day to a couple of years.The "double standards" are IMO not so much in removal procedures as in the provision of parking facilities. More sheffields, please!

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 14 Nov 2018, 12:50pm
by Bmblbzzz
mercalia wrote:Where did they get these strange speakers? Do they still exist ?

Do you mean their accents?

Re: Removing abandoned cycles

Posted: 14 Nov 2018, 1:16pm
by Cyril Haearn
Cycled to the station to catch a train, arrived in good time but I couldnae find a free place to leave my bike

Thought quickly, instead of seeking a place and getting the train an hour later I bought a ticket to take it on the train, quite lucky actually because my destination was some way from the station, cycled instead of walking, saved maybe 40 minutes :wink:

Maybe bikes could be treated as 'abandoned' if both tyres are flat. Maybe not, if I had a puncture I might leave my bike at the station, walk home, collect it later :?