http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Bike-shop-owner-foils-10-000-raid-store-standing/story-22737400-detail/story.html

Brave bike shop owner Chris Hart foiled a £10,000 raid when he stood up to four burglars who rammed his truck and threatened him with crowbars.

Thanks to his extensive security measures at Noah’s Ark, Chris raced to the Brimscombe cycle shop at 4am on Thursday and stopped them from driving away with five mountain bikes in the back of their getaway van.

When they failed to ram his Nissan Navara truck out of the way, two of them pulled crowbars out – then all four fled empty handed, down the A419 London Road and the nearby towpath. They left the 53-registered white Ford Transit van at the scene.

“We have got all the bikes – Noah’s has a lot of security measures with night watchmen and CCTV,” said Chris, 65.

“Before I even got there I knew there was a van parked on the bridge and that there were four of them. They were about to leave and I parked the Nissan about an inch from the van.

“They rammed my truck but they could not get the speed up because they had to come uphill. They gave up and jumped out. Two had crowbars but they ran off – two went down the towpath and the other two along the road. The police got here pretty quickly but they didn’t find them. However there appears to be quite a lot of evidence left behind.”

Police spent the morning at the site, and forensic staff have been collecting evidence.

The bikes have a few scratches but nothing worse. They were a £1,200 Whyte 901, a £2,500 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp Evo, a £2,300 Whyte 130 S, a £2,000 Cannondale Flash AL1, and a Specialized Status 1 originally priced at £2,800.

“The bikes will have a tale to tell,” said Chris, who founded the business in 1983 in Chalford and moved it to the former umbrella factory at Bourne Mills, Brimscombe in 2006.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said: “Police were called to a reported burglary at a bicycle shop in Bourne Mills, London Road, Brimscombe, Stroud at about 4.20am.

“The owner reported that a van was parked outside and four males were reported to be inside the shop. The suspects escaped from the building and a van was rammed into the owners’ car, after which the suspects abandoned their vehicle and made off on foot. A number of stolen mountain bikes were found in the van, which has been detained by police.

“Police continue to search for the offenders, and no arrests have been made at this time. No one is believed to have been injured.”

Call 101 quoting incident 44 of August 14 with any information.

Braver man than me – no way I’d be risking an altercation with four tooled up blokes in order to save my insurance company money.

Would have been nice if they had run under the wheels of a passing truck though….

Awesome work. Hope they’re caught.

Great job that man. I’d have pooped myself.

Wander what a slightly scratched Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp Evo would go for?

Wander what a slightly scratched Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp Evo would go for?

http://www.noahsark.co.uk/bike-shop-c1/bikes-c419/mtb-full-suspension-c424/specialized-specialized-stumpjumper-fsr-comp-evo-650b-2015-p6786

Well if it wasn’t now out of stock £1 discount to you sir!

LOL, well I guess that will be the added charge for bikes having a

tale to tel

night watchmen

Who were where?

Who were where?

Robbing his shop

I imagine it’s a group 4 van that trundles by every hour, but you do know even onsite watchmen aren’t paid to “apprehend” ppl… just to phone the police, maybe do some shouting, and considering what their paid, I wouldn’t be rushing into a confrontation either.

Reminds me of when a bunch of scrotes attempted an armed robbery at the pub I used to drink in (The Trevor in Chorlton)

The regulars (who were a rum looking bunch) disarmed them of a sawn off shotgun, then proceeded to kick the living ****ing shit out of them. Warms your heart stuff like that 😀

What sort of donut robs a pub?

They’d done a string of them in the Area Jamie. Very lucrative if you turn over some poncey gastropub just before last orders after a busy weekend.

The Trevor, however, is about as far from a poncey gastropub as its possible to get. As they found out. 😀

Well done that man.

I wonder if the cost of the repairs to the Navara will be more than the cost price of the bikes though – I don’t think his truck insurers will pay up for that as he deliberately parked it there.

night watchmen

Who were where? watching…

and contacting owner/plod.

🙂

I wonder if the cost of the repairs to the Navara will be more than the cost price of the bikes though – I don’t think his truck insurers will pay up for that as he deliberately parked it there.

Surely the van driver will have insurance.

Always had a soft spot for Noah’s Ark, spent a bit there over the years on bike and snowboard stuff.

Good on him I say. It’s his business, and his bikes.

If it were your bikes being nicked and you knew it was happening, would you roll over and go back to sleep, thinking “Pfff. The insurance will pick that up. Zzzzz..” ?

And I’d expect he’s got some pride in his business, and his business record. I’d guess he’d much rather be able to say in the future: “2014/15 – attempted theft, loss averted due to effective operation of security measures.” rather than “2014/15 – Theft – £10K loss” + whatever else they came back later for when they realised he was a soft touch.

And [massive optimism] fingers crossed, because of him, one or two of the four might decide there are other ways to make money. [/massive optimism]

What sort of donut robs a pub called The Trevor?

Well put nedrapier

I really can’t stand the attitude that the insurance company will sort it out. More incidents like this and the slightly more extreme event in The Trevor should hopefully (in my optimistic and naive opinion) make a few people think twice in future.