Trawling through Blog posts this arvo whilst it was raining I came across a London Cyclist item that grabbed my attention . Luckily I have not found out what so many others have had to experience . A broken window in a Vauxhall Viva car taught me not to park in Parking Stations in London in the 1960’s , lost my portable radio that time . Another broken window in my Ford Sierra pointed to the fact that the contents of the boot including a video camera had gone walk about . Parked outside the place where I was living in New Malden in the late 90’s reminded me that property was better locked in the house than out of sight in the car boot . Visited a lot of car boot sales that weekend without success .
Lisbon in the 90’s also saw a box of ski gear going missing including size 29.5 ski boots and a rather nice knitted sweater from Vancouver . What the culprits planned to do with the boots defies imagination . Likely the urchin who arrived with hand held out as I was parking for the night was planning to operate his form of a protection racket , Local Cops really helpful with their English and stamp for the insurance company if needed . Dropped a box of Crystal Glass wear in Sydney years before which that insurance company declined to payout on , so no longer waste the premiums .
Back to the purpose of the post and what I learned today . Should I have the misfortune of living in a Large City once again then the bike will need considerably more attention than pulling out the front wheel whilst in the shop or café . My mate in Manchester area scooted down to the shop on his £700 commuter bike and came out to discover he had to walk home . You get some funny looks walking around a shop with the front wheel in hand . Occasionally I lock up the front wheel with the frame and the lock wire goes through the frame and rear wheel and around a lamp post so that all three items are attached as long as the villain doesn’t have a pair of strong scissors .
Photo lifted from London Cyclist site !
Twitter is now the latest warning device for those trying to track down a lost/stolen bike , simply put those with the latest gadget can tweet to ; www.twitter.com/stolen bikes.London although other neighbourhoods may offer a similar service the way twitter is expanding into our everyday lives.
Commenters on LONDON Cyclist also mentioned security marking as a deterrent and thus www.immobilise.com was mentioned as a service occasionally offered free . Another was a website www.bikeregister.com where you can act/register before the possibility of the event occurring .
www.cycletaskforce@met.police.uk was mentioned as a reporting service after the event .
There seems to be a debate about the standard of locks required by the insurance companies . Visiting London cyclist’s post : http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/secure/have-you-ever-had-a-bike-stolen/ will give you a few clues as to what will work for you .
When I want to do repairs to my car in Austria I have to produce my “log book” so that the repairer can figure out the info that is needed so as to get the right parts to the service personnel . No log book tends to mean no service , how or why you need the log book to change the tyres defies me .
Police these days seem to think villains deserve to be treated with respect , they have your goods and you don’t have the serial number and the receipt of purchase they are happy to let the miscreant walk , no forms to fill out and your word just is not good enough for their purposes .
Had a funny story to tell but decided to get on with the post and now it has gone missing , sorry will post it when it returns .
Like others you can leave a comment or join those following through RSS and the “follow” facility , or do as georgethecyclist did and add your name on all the other blogs so that you get the automatic advice as I post . Following @skippydetour can also be a reminder when I post .
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE ! Seems like if it is not nailed down then it is finders keepers these days !
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