[Closed] Just been robbed!!

Glad you’re unhurt. Would be nice if Met police had the resources to stop & search any two up mopeds.

You didn't make a mistake by using your phone. Criminals did the crime because they are scum. That said, go and have a cuppa somewhere quiet and safe, these things can mess you up. Shout at some walls and get it out of your system tomorrow when you won't wake people up or get arrested.

Glad you're ok op.

I bet the shock will really set in tomorrow.

Could have been far worse these days with acid being thrown etc.

Hardly a silver lining though. 🙁

As above this sort of brazen stuff happens when the baduns know the cops are utterly overrun.

Not meaning you politicise the robbery though...

Modern day highwaymen. Hope you're ok.

They do supposedly have some sting ops. My impulse was chase, was surprised how quick I was over 10 yards and nearly got hold of the pillion, not sure why or what id have done if I did. Didnt think of potential for knives or acid etc, may have come to harm if I'd grabbed him, or may have licked his head in.

Bit alarmed by it now tbh.

Scumbags.
At least you're unharmed.

Were they wearing lids mate out of interest?

Do the cops still not chase riders not wearing crash helmets?

Yes, both rider and passenger. I've read they dump the lids ig chased. No lids before a chase would be an obvious stop I guess

Ah yes, of course!

When people queue up to spend a grand on a phone sadly some scrote will try to steal it from them and sell it on.

Unfortunately they don't know who has a good phone with resale value so target randoms on the street.

I remember tv ads where warning against leaving you phone in a pub or walking around in the dark using one as you are lit up.

Not just a London thing it is pretty much global. Many big cities warn against scooter bag snatchers 🙁 scum the lot of them

safe home now. Fortunately I have an unfashionable brand £150 phone, and all it'll cost me is a new screen protector.

I've always thought I was aware, was in a quiet street, didn't think anyone was around and then done. As easy as that.

Won't be caught again.

There is a reason texting and driving is so dangerous.. humans are not good at focussing on two things. next time you are out (or at work) look at the people around you on their phones and see how aware of everything going on they are. Or just you tube motorbike phone theft

Don't feel bad it's not your fault.

You lived and you learned.

Nearly happened to me when iPhone 4s were new and I was outside a Dutch pub speaking to the wife about 50ft from the front door of a pub on an empty side street.

Lucky my colleague was outside having a smoke and saw it unfold from afar and shouted just in time to alert me -as above your not really in the room when your on the phone..... Before he started giving chase. 6ft 6 17st bearing down on them .....briefly before he ran out of puff.

When I worked too close to home to warrant a comnute, the only time I could ride was early in the morning.

I was out at 5am one morning, near Richmond and got spotted by two chavs on a scooter with no number plates. The pillion rider took a good look at my bike as they went past and then they started following me.

It was only when I started following a police car (who were oblivious to my frantic attempts to wave them down) that they eventually disappeared.

I'm sure the whole thing only lasted a couple of minutes but it was quite terrifying, seemed to last a lifetime and I felt totally helpless.

may have licked his head

Maybe consider using fists, elbows or your size nines

Thanks for posting and glad you are safe. I ll be in london next week, my phone is a 2g brick so the muggers would be pretty miffed if they got it.

They are desperate so if phone security/awareness improves then it will move to shopping. That poorchap in greenwich last summer was stabbed to death for his rolex.

Glad you got off lightly.

may have licked his head

Not sure how this would have played out TBH...
Maybe consider using fists, elbows or your size nines

Yes, good point. Told you it was a shit phone, with shit predictive text too 😉

Reported it online to the Met this am, for crime number stats rather than any expectation of being able to do anything.

I got lucky, and having been 'warned' now it won't happen again. I've been reading about it and apparently near tube stations is a favourite as people check messages and stuff before losing signal / after regaining it. I was checking tube route and train times for my journey home just by Chancery Lane FWIW.

Had had a lovely few beers with a couple of mates too, some nice old pubs around that area.

Number of youngsters with expensive phones these days, must be easy pickings for the scumbags.

On a busy street I always step back from the kerb & put my back up against a wall of a building. Makes it harder for this kind of thing to happen.

As has been said - when your phone is worth so much, a little bit of caution & street smarts are worth using.

It's so easy to make yourself an easy target, yet even easier to avoid being one.......

Yep - I'm not generally a fan of victim blaming but as you say i've said so many times to my daughters not to walk around with phones in hand and I don't in general, was momentarily distracted needing to check whether I needed to hotfoot it through the underground or stroll like the gentleman about town that i am, and done.

I wasn't even standing at the edge of the road I was already well on the pavement and they came from behind me so not sure how standing back against the wall would have helped. Maybe do the opposite and face the wall so the phone is shielded between you and the wall?

Of course, shouldn't matter because scumbags shouldn't nick phones. But they do, so we have to.

As a keen observer of ladies bottoms, I've noted round my way, a huge increase of fairer sex wandering round with headphones on, with the latest smartphone stuffed in the back jeans pocket begging to be pick pocketed.

What happened to the good ole days, when they just rode past, smoking a Gitane, and squeezed your arse.

Of course, shouldn't matter because scumbags shouldn't nick phones. But they do, so we have to.

Yep - I hate acting all paranoid when I get my phone out in public, but they can pinch it in a flash even when you're self aware.

Sucks cock in hell it does.

Ive felt more justified in my smart watch purchase since reading this. Keep your phones in your pockets out of sight.

Glad you’re OK op. But flashing your valuables around with the risk of them being nicked has been a thing since the dawn of time.

unfortunately, since we went all "PC" and can't hurt the feelings of criminals this sort of crime has risen massively.

Today wee put the rights of criminals above those of the victim imo....

(hint: if you run from, the police on a motorbike, crash and die, well, you're a (dead) moron. Simple as that. Don't want to be killed? then Stop.....)

unfortunately, since we went all "PC" and can't hurt the feelings of criminals this sort of crime has risen massively.

Put down the Daily Mail mate, the police can and do sting people fleeing on motorbikes.

Happens to about one person a week at work (Central London/Camden), still see any number of people phone in hand heading into and out of the office with no awareness of where they are. There's a film about Somers Town for a reason!

unfortunately, since we went all "PC" and can't hurt the feelings of criminals this sort of crime has risen massively.

I assume by we you mean the entire world as my first experience of scooter pillion theft was all the signs warning me about it in Thailand, then Barcelona...

As london has a huge amount of cameras there is a good chance if you report it the bike can be traced.

For everyone saying stand back from the kerb to be safe watch [url=

Reported it online to the Met this am, for crime number stats rather than any expectation of being able to do anything.

The *attempted* robbery stats?

1/ why's it 'attempted'? I was robbed, the fact they then discarded it is secondary. Good luck for me, apart from the minor damage but still theft.

2/ If they had a number of reports last night in different locations maybe they can work out a route and maybe from that trace on CCTV. Or maybe they caught them later in a sting and can add others to it. Not often that less information is useful.

3/ Because if everyone that got lucky ignores it you don't get a true picture of the issue.

I work at a Uni, and phone theft is rife. Mostly folk on bikes speed past and grab the students' phones. We have signs up everywhere.

Where abouts were you if you don't mind me asking?

I live in Islington currently, I've never seen it happen myself but heard of it plenty and you always see CCTV videos on the Evening Standard website. I keep telling my GF to be careful with her phone, but touch wood not happened yet.

You do see a lot of scrote-y-types about on scooters.

The only crime I've seen really is when at a pub off Carnaby street with a little outside area, a couple had their bags on the floor behind/just off from their seats. Some guys just reached over and in a flash were off with them - had no chance!

If I need to get my phone out I generally try to go into a open shop doorway or similar. But I've seen a video where they got someones phone who was doing just that.

IDK if it's been mentioned because I skipped through most of the thread but if you get time please report it!

EDIT: Just seen it was mentioned - absolutely the correct thing to do to report the crime - if you don't have good data, you can't make good decisions!

close to Chancery Lane tube on Grays Inn Road.

Ah crikey, just over the road from my office.

1/ why's it 'attempted'? I was robbed, the fact they then discarded it is secondary. Good luck for me, apart from the minor damage but still theft.

2/ If they had a number of reports last night in different locations maybe they can work out a route and maybe from that trace on CCTV. Or maybe they caught them later in a sting and can add others to it. Not often that less information is useful.

3/ Because if everyone that got lucky ignores it you don't get a true picture of the issue.

You still possess the phone, it wasn't stolen, they attempted to steal it.

The fuzz may use your report for 'intelligence' so it was worth reporting.

The Met have been 'stats driven' for too long and to the point of idiocy. I doubt they'll even class your report as a crime because it'll go down as 'unsolved'.

Still a shitty thing to happen either way.

Gosh thats condor territory, i ll be that way so thanks again for the warning. I have nothing worth nicking tho

enjoy

edit: Just like to say, I don't condone violence, but he's running about with a hammer robbing folks, so a bit of self served justice might do him good

I live in London and whilst I hate the Daily Mail as much as most others on here - London has become a far cry from other cities where my family live, eg Sheffield. I am starting to feel that the MET need to get a little bit "Duterte" with London gangs, there is a brazenness that you just don't get in other cities. No one I know of outside of London, for example - has ever been almost run over at a red light by laughing, drunk scooter gangs wielding machetes, right in front of CCTV.

I know a copper in London who drives a car and catches these scrotes on a daily basis. Says there’s loads of them at it. Can’t chase them if they don’t have a helmet, so if they start getting chased they just take it off. Can’t drive down one way streets (the wrong way obviously) he’s been banned from driving the police car for this even though he’s the only one on his team with the special licence. Caught one lad the other with 200 phones on him

If they took possession of his phone, the theft is complete. That they subsequently discarded it doesn't matter.

Cheers TGA, I know you're 'in the trade'

One thing I've been wondering since - is it likely they discarded it because it isn't a fancy phone, or more likely they just fumbled it and dropped it. Not that it really matters, I got it back.

Why the no helmet - no chase rule ?
If they die...bonus.

Snatch and Grab has been popular in London ever since I've been working there and thats close to 20odd years now. You just have to be vigilant and understand the situations you are in, be weary of anything out of the ordinary.
You can't legislate for this kinda thing, there are laws already in place, the police have little impact despite masses of evidence and committed coppers.. There are just too many of these opportunist gangs around.

I can't remember the amount of times friends, friends wives and such have had bags or cameras snatched from around necks, phones from hands or wallets from rear pockets.. It happens.

The shock is when it happens to you.