So, this evening, just as I walked out of Surrey Quays Decathlon store, I saw some guy jump on, and ride off on a seatless, nice looking specalized bike, with a sawn in half lock in his hand (admittedly a fairly skimpy one). Call me a judgemental prick if you liked, but he looked like a complete chav.

Now, I appreciate that maybe, just maybe, he is the rightful owner, maybe he lost the key to the lock, quickly removed the seatpost while he legged it home to get a hacksaw, forgot the seatpost on the way back to the bike, but went ahead and freed his bike anyway. But I have a nagging feeling that this is not the case.

I'm now feeling a bit pathetic. If I had thought quicker, I could have thrown a stick at the exact trajectory to wedge in the front wheel spokes and send him flying into the docks. Or given chase and kicked him square in the nuts. I could even have shouted "Oi!" or something similarly disapproving. Unfortunately I stood and stared, not knowing what to do. I thought about waiting around, in order to tell the next person to come along with a saddle and seatpost in his hand that his bike had just been nicked, but that probably wouldn't help anyone.

In the end I just went home. If you had your bike stolen from outside Decathlon tonight, Im sorry. I failed you.

Anyone else ever seen a crime take place and missed the opportunity to intervene until it is too late?

I'll be more ready next time.

Er… call the police and give them a description of the guy, maybe they can check CCTV etc 😕

Exact time of theft and direction he went off in should help police with cctv. Not too late to help.

Police – I thought of that later. He was wearing grey pajama bottoms with his ass hanging out, and a black jacket. That's literally all the information I had, and I cant see that helping anyone…

OK, cant hurt – I'll call police tomorrow 🙂

To be honest if he's stood outside the shop hacksawing a lock off in broad daylight then it's a fair chance he wasn't going to and give himself up if you'd shouted 'oi' at him.

Have-a-go Heroes have shorter lifespans than the average person.

When mugged, always hand over what they're asking for, and never run after them. Which is why I always carry a "sacrificial wallet" with a low denomination bank note and an out of date credit card in on holiday.

BigJohn – all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing ( to misquote)

Of course you should intervene if you see a crime occurring and your intervention will make a difference

Are you more likely to be mugged on holiday?

mansonsoul – Member
Are you more likely to be mugged on holiday?

Depends where you holiday.

"BigJohn – all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing ( to misquote)

Of course you should intervene if you see a crime occurring and your intervention will make a difference "

I am not saying you are wrong TJ – but a work colleague of my ex had his phone stolen a few years ago, he gave chase. He got stabbed. He died. He was 18 or 19 years old

I've stopped a few bike thefts on Upper St in Islington, blatant daylight attempts with plenty of people walking around… all you really need to do is draw attention to the cocks and they run off… haven't had to physically confront one yet, I generally yell a simple and polite 'oi, wtf do you think you're doing c*nt! f*ck off!' at them, luckily they always do! It helps that I'm relatively big and scary and they're usually young and skinny! 😈

Depends where you holiday.

Good point, well made. I suppose it also depends where you live.

It's just that if you're backpacking around Central America it can be a real bummer to lose all your money, ID and cards. A little more inconvenient than nipping down to your local branch and getting a replacement.