Cycling UK Forum

I was signed off work. While I was away my bike was locked to one of the provided bike rails at work. Unbeknown to me they moved the rails to build a shed there. During that process they cut the lock. I have asked for reimbursement, but this has been ignored so far. I checked my emails to which I had access while I was off. There was no email about bikes needing to be moved from those rails nor anything about building work. So I did not ignore a request to move the bike. If a note was pinned on, they should have noted that employees currently not coming in also need to be notified in another way.

Should the employer reimburse the lock?

You left your bike locked up at work?

Assuming you weren't ever told not to leave your bike there (sign, memo, told during induction etc) then it does seem to be criminal damage to me. A possible grey area depends on how long you were absent. If it were more than, say, a month then that might be sufficient to give the employer reasonable excuse to cut your lock (not reasonable to me, just conjecture about what a civil court may find reasonable).

Do you have a union? Are they any good? How much do you value relations with your employer?

Sure, you could go and see a solicitor and get a stern letter sent, or go to small claims court. And if you don't care about promotions or references and the lock was expensive, why not? But add up the time, stress, legal costs and an annoyed boss and it may not be worth it after all.

I think if it were me, I'd request a meeting and put my case to whoever seems most relevant. Put my case in a reasonable manner, backed up by some facts (they knew you were absent, they didn't send any emails) etc.

Several things come to mind.
Does your company own or rent the area where your bike was left?
Was anyone aware which bike was yours?
What happened to your bike?
Is there a condition in your contract that states that personal belongings should not be left at work?

peetee wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 11:54am Several things come to mind.
Does your company own or rent the area where your bike was left?
Was anyone aware which bike was yours?
What happened to your bike?
Is there a condition in your contract that states that personal belongings should not be left at work?

Good ones. Also:
Did they treat it similarly to a car left at work?

Who have you asked for reimbursement? I think this would be a HR issue, they should determine whether your use of the rack was reasonable. If they consider it was, it follows that it shouldn't have been removed without giving you reasonable opportunity to do so yourself. If they consider that your bike being left there was unreasonable, then IMO removing it would be reasonable.
Of course HR ae not the last word in arbitration, but I'd probably accept it as taking it further could get messy.

Galactic wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 11:29am Assuming you weren't ever told not to leave your bike there (sign, memo, told during induction etc) then it does seem to be criminal damage to me.

There is no element of criminal damage in this. The requirement to move the bike to build the shed gives them lawful excuse so any claim for liability would be a civil matter.

PH wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 12:06pm There is no element of criminal damage in this. The requirement to move the bike to build the shed gives them lawful excuse so any claim for liability would be a civil matter.

Yep, shed is definitely lawful excuse, but I think the question of whether they took reasonable steps to locate the owner and request removal is pertinent, definitely in a small claims court. Peetee makes a good point by asking whether anyone was aware whose bike it was, since if they knew that then it's not reasonable to just damage property, particularly if it has an implied or explicit licence to be there, without first informing the owner and requesting removal. If they didn't know, and had no easy way to find out, then the legal arguments just start piling up.

But it's kind of all moot to my mind, since I'd feel even a £100 lock wasn't worth taking legal action over given costs, stress and relationship with employer.

Edited to add: And the criminal law aspect of this is even mooter, since the cops really aren't going to be interested and would probably even try to avoid handing out a crime number.

I imagine the lock was cut by the employers building contractor.
Does that make it easier?

Fortunately or unfortunately, I don’t know which really, I’ve only ever worked for people not companies.
You were off sick so I can’t expect you to come in. I’m not going to let your bike hold up a job, I tell the guys to just get on with the job and they decide to cut the lock.
As I see it make a fuss about this lock if you wish but bear in mind who’ll be moved towards the top of the list when cutbacks in staff are needed.

Anita Faul wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 11:02am I was signed off work. While I was away my bike was locked to one of the provided bike rails at work. Unbeknown to me they moved the rails to build a shed there. During that process they cut the lock. I have asked for reimbursement, but this has been ignored so far. I checked my emails to which I had access while I was off. There was no email about bikes needing to be moved from those rails nor anything about building work. So I did not ignore a request to move the bike. If a note was pinned on, they should have noted that employees currently not coming in also need to be notified in another way.

Should the employer reimburse the lock?

This is going to be more trouble than it’s worth. Whilst you’re at work parking a car or bike at your place of work isn’t a right it’s something that your employer allows you to do. You had left the site and hadn’t taken the bike with you. Storing a bike at work, which is what you effectively did, is unexpected use of that (work time) privilege - or rather a privilege that unless explicit really isn’t extended.

You could talk - a pleasant face to face conversation - to your personnel department and see how sympathetic they are to your unexpected loss, but ultimately it’s the company’s property and they call the shots. In a way you’re lucky that your bike didn’t disappear, removal of seemingly dumped or disowned property. You might like to find out how other users of bike storage got on and avoided a similar loss.

Carlton green wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 2:37pm You had left the site and hadn’t taken the bike with you. Storing a bike at work, which is what you effectively did, is unexpected use of that (work time) privilege - or rather a privilege that unless explicit really isn’t extended.

It rather depends whether the Opening Poster was signed off work because of an incident at work.

I'm still minded to think that people would be much more sympathetic to the OP if their employer had bust their car's lock and moved that... but it is what it is and the employer probably has a similar attitude to "abandoned, worthless" (aka parked) bikes.

A similar thing happened to me. I used to leave my bike lock at work, attached to part of the bike shed. Whilst I was on annual leave, and without any prior warning, the bike shed was demolished to make way for a more modern version. I returned to find my lock gone. Fortunately, the building manager had rescued the locks that were attached to the shed, after demolition. So I managed to get my lock back, and though it was a bit bashed about, it still worked.

I did send a stern email asking why we weren’t given prior notice of the demolition. The building manager just apologised but never gave a reason. It was just an oversight on his part. I didn’t get compensation for the damaged lock.

Anita Faul wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 11:02am I was signed off work. While I was away my bike was locked to one of the provided bike rails at work. Unbeknown to me they moved the rails to build a shed there. During that process they cut the lock. I have asked for reimbursement, but this has been ignored so far. I checked my emails to which I had access while I was off. There was no email about bikes needing to be moved from those rails nor anything about building work. So I did not ignore a request to move the bike. If a note was pinned on, they should have noted that employees currently not coming in also need to be notified in another way.

Should the employer reimburse the lock?

I hope the new shed is for staff bikes

mjr wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 3:34pm

Carlton green wrote: ↑11 Jan 2024, 2:37pm You had left the site and hadn’t taken the bike with you. Storing a bike at work, which is what you effectively did, is unexpected use of that (work time) privilege - or rather a privilege that unless explicit really isn’t extended.

It rather depends whether the Opening Poster was signed off work because of an incident at work.

Which is one reason why a pleasant face to face conversation with the personnel department is suggested as a way forward. Sometimes these things are down to good will and how reasonable people are perceived to be.