There is a bike locked against a bike rack that I walk past each day on my way to work. I say it’s a bike but it is now only a frame as it has been there for roughly two years and all removable parts have now been appropriated.

Now obviously the owner either has no idea where they locked their bike or have no interest in unlocking it and taking the frame as otherwise it would have been collected in the last two years.

So at what point does taking parts off of an abandoned / neglected bike that is locked up in public stop being classed as theft in the eyes of the law?

If the person locks the bike up and people start removing wheels and forks etc straight away then there is a clear case of theft there. But if the bike is there for a week, month or year, at what point do the scavengers have any entitlement to pick away at the carcass?

And at what stage does theft turn into recycling? as if the parts were not removed they would remain to this day so obviously someone is out there is using these parts.

Now for arguments sake this bike is a cheap BSO. And like so many bikes you see locked up and abandoned, somebody has decided to jump all over the wheels leaving them buckled beyond repair. The bike is left for 1 year and there is no sign of the owner or anyone else attempting to remove it. is there an argument for somebody to come along and take all or part of that bike as it is not being used and is also taking up valuable bike parking facilities?

But on the flip side of this, instead of the bike being a BSO it is a high end carbon bike covered in Enve, Chris King and all other top notch trinkets. Again this bike is stood locked at the bike rack for 1 year, as above, no effort is made to remove it or claim ownership.
Does the same timeframe for the BSO fit the high end bike? Does the perceived value give more credence to it being theft?

Now I’m only asking this hypothetical question as I often ponder stopping off one day with a set of tools to remove the D-lock and give this poor frame a new lease of life. Or even to donate it to one of the local bike charities as either option would be better than slowly rusting away.

But if I was to stand there with a saw hacking away at the lock and the police come past what would or could they do? and to be a model citizen would there be any kind of permission the Police or Council could give me even if I called them to let them know of my intentions?

As I said, I am not intending to remove the frame but i would like to know your thoughts on whether you all think it would be theft to take something that has been abandoned even if it is securely locked?

(my answer is yes it’s theft as it belongs to someone else, but the law may be a bit grey I that the item appears to be abandoned)

Put a note on it or consult the caretaker of the hoop ( could be a building manager or the local council) as long as you are polite they should have no issue.

As an Estate Manager, our procedure usually goes as follows
Note on bike for 1 week
Insulating tape on the chain and wait one month
Insulating tape on the chain and wait one more month
Insulating tape on the chain and wait a 3rd month
Assuming the insulating tape does not get punctured in this time…
Cut lock and move bicycle to suitable secure area
Wait 3 months
Dispose of appropriately (sell, use or skip it)

Had zero come back on this and the local police thought that it was overly generous in terms of the waiting period.

Yes, it isn’t yours and its not (I assume) on your property.
Bike could have been stolen previously and left there.

The chances are if the wheels have been trashed, the frame is probably also bent / damaged.
It does seem a waste though.
If you want to spot dead & abandoned bikes Gosport Ferry or Cambridge station is a good place to visit!

This kind of thing creeps me out – the owner could be dead ? It might be haunted….

Mark, so if it WAS stolen and left there, is it still theft if it has already been “thieved”?
And no it’s not on my property, it’s on a public path. I just wondered how the STW masses would see it.

nwmlarge, as an Estate Manager you are removing an item from your property as it’s been abandoned. but if you are Joe public would you have the same capacity to make that decision?

Thanks guys, I really am just interested to see what people think about it.

Legally speaking it would be theft but this is more of a moral question. I’d say if had clearly been abandoned (maybe left unmoved in an unrideable state for 6 months) then you are doing every one a favour. Saves the council money, stops it being the owners problem and recycles the bits. Only issue would be if you took a few bits that rendered some other bits unusable.

If you want to be morally (and legally) beyond reproach, maybe point the owner (of the bike stand) towards a bike charity and then the charity can just come and pick them up.

At uni there’d be a cull, usually mid term so no one would be away. Waterproof notes stapled around the toptube/bike stand saying unused bikes will be removed next month. Then a month later they’d disappear.

what about possession is 9/10s of the law. Obviously willing to give it back to the rightful owner if they can prove they owned it before.

Mark, so if it WAS stolen and left there, is it still theft if it has already been “thieved”?

In that case then you are using it so if you get caught with it what proof have you that you did not nick it.

Mark, I agree, and and per CM888 above, as someone who would have taken somebody elses property you would have to accept the liability that if they COULD prove it was theirs then you would have to give up the bike as you are not the rightful owner

But what would your preferred solution be to this? Should councils be responsible for removing abandoned bikes so that current users are able to lock theirs against the stand? or would it be that there is an ever growing pile of abandoned bikes locked up across cities everywhere?

I’m not trying to be argumentative re your responses, and I agree that taking something that belongs to someone else is theft, but is it really black and white in the above scenario?

and for the record I like TINAS’s suggestion of letting the landlord know about a bicycle charity and see if they want to get rid or continue watching a bike rot. I am not intending to take the frame.

abandoned property cannot be stolen, as it must belong to someone in order to be, ergo no theft.

in addition, theft requires dishonest intention – so if you left a note saying asking for the owner to come forward, or left a note to the owner saying how to contact you when you did remove it, then it wouldn’t be theft either.

Abandoned bikes, cars, boats, whatever… they are all the consequences of people’s chaotic and disfunctional lives. People buy things then forget where they left them or they get ill or leave or die or anything. In 2009 I found an almost unridden 2006 Specialized Roubaix dumped off a bridge… took it to the Police who gave it back to me a month later. I still wonder who owned it for three years but didn’t ride it and how it ended up in the brook.

Assuming the insulating tape does not get punctured in this time…

How do you know the person isn’t removing the tape and then putting it back, as removing it would be theft of someone else’s property

But what would your preferred solution be to this? Should councils be responsible for removing abandoned bikes so that current users are able to lock theirs against the stand? or would it be that there is an ever growing pile of abandoned bikes locked up across cities everywhere?

TBH with you I am only playing devils advocate and where I live there is not a problem with locked up (abandoned)bikes and as such I have never really gave it much thought although I would think that whoever owns whatever it is locked to would have a say in what happens to it(however this then gets more complicated if it is locked to my fence but on a council street I suppose)

Abandoned bikes, cars, boats, whatever… they are all the consequences of people’s chaotic and disfunctional lives. People buy things then forget where they left them or they get ill or leave or die or anything.

I suspect with bikes like this it’s either students or pub bikes left overnight in town, then the drunks think it massive fun to trash them, normally the wheels. I’d guess it’s not worth most people starting again with a potentially bent frame and buying kit to put back on it – they just buy another working junk bike. Though you’d have thought the lock was useful to someone, typically might have more value than the rest of the bike!

Call 101 or look up your local neighbourhood plod and give them a bell.

I reckon they’d ask you to leave a note on it for a month and if it’s still there you can have it.
Probably a good idea to contact them anyway, so you have proof that you have made previous enquiries if anyone does catch you ‘nicking it’.

Funky dunk,

You don’t know, how could you? What it does demonstrate is that you are taking reasonable steps to ascertain an interest in the item to prove it is not abandoned.

OP, if you approach the Land owner or the person managing the hoop it isn’t far off the same thing.

As an Estate Manager i do not technically own the location the bicycle is being stored in or on but i do have the brief to act in the clients best interests. It is therefore my responsibility to ensure that others are able to have access to a designated storage area by removing abandoned bikes or remnants of.

The abandoned bikes at Cambridge Station were removed around 2 months ago.
iirc, they were given 2 weeks notice to ‘move this bike or we’ll scrap it,’ by a notice in the parking area.
It may have been a months notice, but anything that didnt move in that time was cut off their locks and taken away