It has been a horrible week for me and my bicycles. Let me
tell you about
it...
I live two miles from Aldershot station and work in West
Smithfield, central London. I used to ride my Dawes Galaxy
to Aldershot, lock it up for the day, take the train, and
walk a mile or so from Waterloo to Smithfield. Then about
three months ago I got my hands on my partner's Brompton T3
and started bringing it to London and cycling that mile
instead, locking it up in the company garage (an open area
in the side of the building) since there's not much space
indoors. I decided it was a great bike, and clearly the best
way of making that journey across London.
On Wednesday (the day of the tube strike) I came out of work
to find the bicycle gone and the lock (an Abus Steel-o-Flex)
cut open and lying on the floor. The company called in the
police, who interviewed me and took the CCTV tapes covering
the garage. They also examined the lock and told me it had
been sliced through with some kind of power tool - it was a
very clean cut. They don't think I'll get the bike back, but
they might be able to get something out of the CCTV. It has
to be said though, the police were really, really great.
They showed up quickly, were really friendly, and appeared
to be doing everything they could.
So this put me back where I was before - locking up the
Dawes at Aldershot. Last night (Friday) I went out to dinner
in Guildford, and traveled straight there from London,
leaving the bike at the station overnight. Came to collect
it this morning, and found the tyres slashed. Same thing had
happened to the three other bikes also locked up there
(there are very rarely any bikes parked there late at night,
which is why I think it happened this morning). I reported
it to the platform staff, who said that there was CCTV on
the bicycle lockup area, and that if I called the British
Transport Police, they could take a look at it. The BTP took
down all the details but said they wouldn't be coming down -
they'd just get in touch with the station manager at some
point to investigate the CCTV. So I left a note on each of
the other bicycles with a few details, my very kind partner
showed up with his car, and we took the injured bike home.
Fortunately both bikes are insured (CTC cyclecover) but I
can't believe I've had such rotten luck with my bikes this
week. I have one more bike, a Fausto Coppi Torino racer
but I now have strong suspicions that the world is out to
get me and my bikes so I'm planning on staying in for a
few days. 🙂
So I'm looking at new tyres, tubes... and a new folder,
since I was really getting to like the Brompton. Hopefully
I'll be able to find somewhere to keep the new bike in the
office where I can keep an eye on it.
By the way this is my first time posting here, although I'm
a regular reader. I just thought I'd tell you all about this
so you can appreciate your own bikes being still intact /
still with you (I hope 🙂
Helen
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