MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Well, after nearly twenty years of trouble free cycling, my luck has run out; some little scrote stole my bike yesterday.
To give a little more detail to things, my wife's car died the other week, so I decided to take the bike into work so that, at lunchtimes, I can cycle home, walk the dogs and then cycle back to work. I get exercise, they get exercise and the wife can pick me up after work. Everyone's a winner.
So, yesterday rolls around and I get to cycle at a good speed back to the house, walk the boys and then cycle back, arriving at, according to CCTV, at 13:16:41 hrs. I take my bike to my office's secure storage area/shed at the rear of our office and put my pride and joy inside, closing the door as I leave and jumbling up the numbers after locking it up.
Imagine my surprise this lunchtime when I go to repeat the procedure and find out that my bike is no longer there. True joy. Deep joy. Utter happiness. Luckily, we have CCTV that covers part of the egress route from the shed, so i am hopeful that they might have got something, but given that there is a footpath running along the back of the office, there's always a chance they just moved it over there and rode off.
Anyway, the police have been informed, I have a crime number, but I am left with the question of what to do... As it was a work building, a build specifically provided for the purpose of securely storing employee bicycles, do they have a tactic duty of care for said cycle? Would my home and contents insurance cover the bike given that it was at work? If I find the scrote that stole it, can I take my bike back?
I'm not in a good mood right now...
All insurance is different - ours would cover our bikes being nicked from our work's secure bike lockup, but only if we had also used our own locks to secure it to something permanent. I'm sure your work won't cover it, as they normally have a 'all stuff is left at the owner's risk' type signs or policies.
If you've got good insurance you might be lucky. I hope you are....
But you really need to make sure your bikes are covered for full replacement value before they are nicked.....
No such signs on the shed at work, so might be a bit of sunshine there. Peter, I hear what you are saying, but right now I just want to find th little scrote and get my bike back.
Insurance is with Direct Line. i have no idea if they are good or bad...
Few years back we had a couple of decent bikes nicked from our secure bike shed (removed barbed wire and climbed over top - security must have been on a donut break)
Despite lots of complaints work/work insurance didn't pay out.
Interestingly the bikes with very big locks (mine had a kyprtonite d lock) remained so they obviously only had smallish bolt cutters for the locks, and knew which ones were easy to cut.
One thought - if you had something like a kyrptonite lock on it I think they provide some form of payout (upto a grand?) might be worth looking into.
Hope it turns out ok for you.
Plus you should furnish the STW massive with location, latest images, full details of the build as stolen bikes have been found from time to time!
Just to clarify, you talked about jumbling up the numbers: Has the shed been broken into or did some know/guess the combination?
As for your home insurance - its totally hit and miss, you'll just have to read the policy docs and see what you bought into
Location: Cambourne business park, Cambourne, Cambs.
No latest images, as I am a sod for leaving the camera at home when i go out, but it's got a red frame, Sunn Ditch With disc rims, Deore disc brakes and rear groupset, Avid brake levers and Panaracer tyres with the red strips to go with the frame (tarty I know, but now they are more pink, so it's distinctive).
The previous lock on the shed was rubbish... you could get into the locked shed by putting your hand through the metal bars and opening it from the inside, so the new lock was put in. Bloke at work that manages the facilities has said that it cannot be opened without the combination, so it must have been left open. He's also just told me that our company's insurers will not pay for it.
Ace.
was it a left/right/left/right/left/release combination or a push button or a line up the numbers type lock
just interested.
Is this a case of 1 combination lock on the door that everyone uses and your bike in the area not locked independantly?
Sounds a bit of a minefield if it is as your trusting everyone who uses it to correctly lock it. From an insurance point of view I don't think they would pay out if your bike wasn't independantly locked as access is to open.
Line up the numbers type.
so there was a max of 9999 numbers - you can often 'feel' when those are lined up if you turn the dial slowly and don't need to try all the combinations 🙁
no offemce to your facilities manager, but i can do them in seconds.
So can the guys in the office. There's a knack to doing them that I used to exploit at school. The old lock was a better lock, just rubbish for securing the door as it was installed.
Well Willard I'm in Histon so I'll kep my eyes peeled for it sounds pretty distinctive too.
Direct line are not the best for bikes. I got nothing for mine. D-LOCKED on th elanding outside my flat with secure entrance (unless you're the cleaning crew).
Locked compounds are pretty solid at workplaces.
How the heck did they get in???
Home contents insurance cover by any chance?
Hope next 20yrs are just as quiet.
Are we saying that the lock wasn't broken, but it was someone who simply left it open?
He's also just told me that our company's insurers will not pay for it.
He might be right, but don't be fobbed off.
I was told "we're not responsible" when my motorbike fell over on a ferry on a rough Irish sea. It was fairly easy to prove that they were responsible and get £1200+ for the repairs....
If the lock has been left open by somebody yother than you, and you can make a good case, you've got a chance methinks.... 🙂
My boss just had a quiet word with him. He's now looking to find out the company's official stance.
Fingers crossed.
Nice one Willard. Yup, fingerers crossed....!
Vicarious liability?
If the shed can only be used by employees, and therefore are claiming that an employee must have left it open, (to try and avoid strict liability by having a faulty/unsecure area) then is there a duty of care on an employee to lock it, and in failing to do so, have the company got a liability for the actions of its employees whilst engaged on company business?