kevindsingleton 

I have read the whole thread, and I did notice your post (post #43). That's the one where you started blaming the victim ("...if you had a cable lock you have no one but yourself to blame"). "No one but yourself". That means, in your opinion, the OP can't even blame the actual thief for stealing his bike. That's why I pointed out the folly of your position, in my post. You may have seen it? #46?

Hope that's clear.

rmfnla

Sounds to me like you are off the hook.

The bike got stolen from company property because of the company's lax security so it's their loss, not yours.

Why should you continue to pay rent on something that was stolen from them..?

SkunkWerX

I have read about this "national bike to work" scheme in the UK, only enough to understand it is a gov't sponsored program.

I wonder if there is now a corresponding uptick in bike thefts created by a larger universe of newer bikes sitting out there at places of business?

Here in the USA we keep hearing how Britain is the most video surveillance saturated country on earth. Given that, we have been left to believe there is a high liklihood of a thief being caught on camera...so much for video surveillance if it is not administered properly.

It's a shame that bike theft is placed fairly low on the priority list for police departments with budget contraints.

Sorry for your loss. I don't know enough about the differences in the UK with regard to insurance, employee rights, and laws to be able suggest an more than pursuing through legal channels, as it appears you are doing. With a witness and fake camera, the police "could" twist the guys arm a little bit, visit him, tell him there is a witness and a video camera that was nearby. Then see if he feels enough pressure to find out something. But, this is police business. Do NOT attempt anything on your own, as has been advised above.

kevindsingleton 

That's a good point. The contract should spell out the consequences of an episode like this.

nightshade18

Well the last few posts got heated pretty quickly. Maelochs, that's quite an upsetting post.

nightshade18

It does. The scheme is to provide a tax benefit for those continuing to commute by bike. If the bike is stolen, I can either terminate the agreement and repay in full plus all the tax saving, or I can replace the bike at my cost and continue to pay the tax free instalments. Ironically we have dozens of employees on the scheme and I'm the only one that's actually used my bike to commute - most buy an MTB and use it at the weekends. It's completely against the scheme rules but there is no policing at all.
It also sets out that whilst the bike belongs to my employer, I'm responsible for it.

In brighter news, the CCTV footage did indeed capture our lowlifes. 3 Man crew. One stood watch while the other two went into works car park and took the bike. One massive set of bolt cutters and they're in and out in under a minute. It looks as though they scoped the place out as they knew where they were going. The footage isn't the greatest quality, but the police were very interested and have gone to review it themselves.

kevindsingleton 

Do they make it lucrative for you to enter into this arrangement? You get a tax deduction equal to the principle, so you're paying for the bike with what amounts to pre-tax money, but you're on the hook, even if it's stolen? It sounds like a pretty horrible deal, if they're not giving you some sort of break on the cost of the bike.

Here's hoping the coppers do their job and find the lowlifes and get your bike back. Any other outcome is going to be really painful, it appears.

rumrunn6

and if he isn't the owner, his employer was robbed, not him

nightshade18

Yeah, the payments come out of my salary before tax is deducted. So I pay 20% tax on my wage normally, this makes the bike 20% cheaper for me to buy. I'm also getting the benefit of not paying a deposit or any interest over the 12 months.

TheLibrarian

I'd stalk him.

KD5NRH

[QUOTE=Maelochs;19052690]Have you read the whole thread? If you had, you might have noticed the post (post #43) where I said that a simple cable (which is all he used) could be cut by anyone with a $3 set of diagonal pliers, or 20 minutes with a steak knife ... my point is that a bike locked with a cable is not "secured." [QUOTE]

Irrelevant. Most people have front doors that won't stand up to one good kick. Doesn't mean a break in is their fault. A bike tied to a post with a shoelace is secured.

Milton Keynes

If it had been a waltz, they'd have cut the cable in 3/4 time.

hankaye

Milton Keynes, Howdy;

Now that's funny, seriously. , , .

Thanks for the chuckle, needed it today.

hank

Carson Dyle

Bullsh*t. What crime?

FWIW, that's exactly what I'd do. I'd be on that guy's front step with three or four of my larger, nastier buddies (it would be tough picking just three or four of the nastiest, tbh) and demanding my bike back. These guys aren't professional hit men, they're typically slimy little drug-addicted weasels.

Maelochs

Yeah ... and what happens if a fight ensues, and you and your friends beat the snot out of this guy ... and it turns out he isn't the thief? Maybe he is just a little drunk and a little stupid and offended that a bunch of guys are showing up on his doorstep and threatening him, and he tells you to Eff yourselves, things escalate ... and you and your buddies stomp some guy who did absolutely no wrong to you or anyone else as far as you know ....

Yeah, that is really excellent behavior,. That's the kind of thinking that makes our nation strong.

The crime would be aggravated assault, by the way. And assault and battery ... and probably a bunch more stuff I don't know.

If you had an eyewitness who was absolutely reliable and could pick him out, that would be one thing .... but in this case you have no clue if he did it or not. So you'd just go and beat him up because ... because that's what a$$holes do, they beat people up for no good reason.

In a few states if you and your four friends went there to threaten him he would be well within his rights to shoot all of you---even if he did steal the bike. And if he didn't ... it would serve you all right to get shot for attacking him like that.

I don't have any sympathy for thieves, but I don't have any for stupid self-appointed vigilante he-man idiots either.

SkunkWerX

If they are a "crew" with bolt cutters they will be caught. This wasn't their first, most likely.
Sometimes the police seem like they are doing nothing, but, sometimes they are watching the patterns and even sometimes already know who the perp is. Hopefully this is the case, and they will soon be arrested.

Sadly, this doesn't get the bike back into its owners hands. Being pros, they probably already exchanged it for $$...probably within hours of the theft.

Good Luck to the OP.

Maelochs

Sorry to upset you.

My point is simple .... it is just like saying "I had the right of way!" if you get hit by a car. At that point it doesn't matter who is wrong, you are hurt.

That's what I am saying to this guy---he is not legally wrong, and the thief is, and should and hopefully will be caught and severely punished, and hopefully the bike will be recovered and returned undamaged. But ...

Look, if I go out camping solo without a first aid kit and hurt myself and get a bad infection because I didn't have a basic first aid kit .... it doesn't matter if I hurt my self deliberately or accidentally or if an animal attacked me ... I am still in a really bad situation. So ... I would bring a first-aid kit, with some alcohol swabs and a little bottle of peroxide or betadyne or something, and gauze and tape. I would do so because it made sense to allay the risk of infection after injury.

if I was going to lock my bike up outside, out of my sight, totally unwatched, for a long period of time, I would make sure it was locked securely enough that it would take a real effort to steal it. Not because no one has the right to steal my bike, but because someone could.

Maybe this guy has never had a bike stolen. I have had three stolen, one recovered. That all happened a long time ago and hasn't happened since.

What I have learned is that if I make it easy enough, people will steal my bike. If I make it a little harder, Maybe they won't.

This guy effectively secured his bike with a shoelace, or a bungee. He effectively didn't secure it at all. I pointed this out, because probably all the sympathy in the world won't prevent him from being robbed again, whereas using a chain instead of a cable might.

But hey .... if imagining beating up people who are not involved and feeling bad are okay with everyone else, great. He can get a new bike and use a cheap cable lock on it, too.

You know, I don't care in the least if the OP hates me for the rest of his life---that is his choice and his karma. But I do hope he recalls what I said and gets a few feet of chain at the local hardware store, and slips it inside an old inner tube so it won't scratch his new bike, and gets a decent combination lock, and from now on secures his bike well enough that a random guy passing by cannot steal it easily.

Carson Dyle

Find your balls and go get your bike, for Christ's sake.

Maelochs

You're so manly ....

nightshade18

The reason you upset me and the reason you've just done it again, is that you're making up you're own facts and then judging me by them!
Where in this thread did I say the lock was cheap? It wasn't. Lightweight yes, but cheap, no.
Where did I say it was out of sight for a long period? There's a car park attendant patrolling all day.

If you think a length of chain inside an inner tube is going to stop a well tooled up crew of bike thieves you're sadly mistaken.

Don't come laying the blame at my door when all you have to go at is what I've posted here. Of course incidents like this cause people to reconsider their security - I've ordered a D lock with cables for the wheels and a motorcycle chain to leave at work.But that doesn't mean I'm to blame for the thieves that took my bike. If I had been careless and left it in a back alley or not locked at all, then I'd accept you blaming me but I didn't. It was reasonably safe and still taken anyway.

Coldhands

Many people live in council housing I think it's unfair of you to project that sort of association when you've no idea who actually stole your bicycle.

nightshade18

That's a fair point Coldhands, while they can be crime hotspots it isn't fair to tar everyone with the same brush.

AlexCyclistRoch

Ah, good old England, where even thieves still sometimes have a conscience......didn't even stop in to collect a fiver, or possibly tea and biscuits? Perhaps the world still has some hope after all...

kevindsingleton 

That's not what you said. You said he had no one to blame but himself, totally absolving the thief, or thieves, of any responsibility.

That's where I think you're wrong, and why I questioned your logic.

hankaye

nightshade18, Howdy;

So, ... are any of the 3 in the CCTV video the one with the bike or is that individual merely a consumer of
ill-gotten-goods???

hank