Had a phone taken whilst on holiday, it was just in a bag next to me…thief had grabbed it while we were sitting there.

Had a Haro BMX robbed while I was riding in Birmingham. Gang of rough kids, one looked to have a gun down his trousers although he never pulled it out. Might have been fake but not taking any chances, got away with just a black eye.

Had loads of run ins with various undesirables working in a petrol station. Plenty of members of a certain community coming in robbing all sorts of stuff and as for the fuel thefts…had all sorts of different attempts. Some successful, some just down right stupid.

Someone tried to swipe the catalytic converter from my car a few weeks ago. Failed though – the subframe got in the way. They just left me with knackered sensors and a sliced exhaust pipe. It’s a 20 year old Honda FFS.

CATS for cars of that vintage are fetching very good money.

I’ve got a 15yr old Civic Type R and people are regularly getting £600-£800 for old CATS. So the metals in them must be worth a lot more.

What is it with shoes!

First: working in London, got very drunk, slept on Waterloo station benches in my suit. Woke up without shoes, had to tramp back to office (3/4 mile in socks). Decided I’d best go home and find another pair.

Second: Last day in Ecuador after a Macmillian cycling thing. Left my only non SPD shoes on the seawall, went drunken (again) skinny dipping in the pacific. Came back no shoes. I mean it was dark, 2am, about 10 of us in teh sea and no one else in sight. And they were only a scabby pair of sandals!

Walked back through Heathrow in bare feet the next day with a massive hangover. No idea how I didn’t get the full ‘did you pack this bag yourself sir’ treatment!

Someone stole a mountain board out of the open boot of my car in the 30s

Clearly a lie. Mountain boards weren’t invented. PLUS car boots were well small back then. 😀

I watched my mate’s bike get ridden away out of our bike sheds at work. We had 2 sheds and I thought he’d parked in the other one (nearer to where he worked). So as I walked out of the building this scumbag rode right past me. Best thing was it was my mate’s first commute as he’d only just bought the bike. I did ride around the local estate looking for any sign, but by the time I’d gone back in, got my key and unlocked my bike, scummer was long gone.

Some people. The mind woggles.

Deserved more recognition 👏

Cycle touring in the early 90’s along the south coast 4 of us stopped on Bournmouth seafront to consult the map and decide where to stop for lunch. I’d lent my bike agains the curb and walked back all of 2m to my mate. Then, a local lad decided to nick my bike….

He didn’t get far, fully laden bike with panniers etc. a 2m head start me on foot and 3 cyclists already on their bikes. Realising he was not going to get away with this he dropped the bike and ran accross the road and up a side street.

To this day I’ve no idea how he thought that was going to work.

Friend and I were interrailing around Europe and having missed the last train we slept in out sleeping bags on the station with all our documents and money safely tucked inside the bags against our bodies. I slept fine but my friend woke up at about 3am as he felt his sleeping bag being cut open. He opened his eyes and saw a very sharp knife cutting through the bag across his chest and a guy smiling in his face as he did it.

My friend just lay there while the man took his money, camera and passport. We had to throw the sleeping bag away in the morning, not because of the cut but because my friend actually shit himself.

Sat having a drink in Clumber Park – two lads on mopeds went past and casually loaded my GFs bike on and drove off. I ran at them with a chair and a bloke from Doncaster chased them.

Police put a copter up and several cars.

We got it back later.

i used to work at a Tesco petrol station in my late teens/early twenties. Late evening shifts meant the kiosk door was locked and we had to take payments through the window hatch.

Me and a colleague (both similar ages and got on well) were on shift when a pair of Vauxhall Nova’s pulled up to the two pumps farthest from the kiosk. We sat and watched in awe as two young, skinny females got out and started filling up. Both had caps on low, along with low waisted jeans with underwear poking out of the top. You know the ones that replicate dental floss.

Whilst mesmerised by such a sight, looking forward to the prospect of interaction with these fine young ladies, what we didn’t spot were their partners sliding across from passenger to driver seat. The girls hung up the nozzles, jumped into the passenger side and we watched them light up the front tyres and leave the forecourt.

By the time we had worked out what was going on, they were half a mile up the road.

CCTV camera’s were super low resolution back then, so no chance of working out the number plates.

they played the game well.

incredible stuff.

Some blokes took a pinball machine away in a cafe/bar I used to frequent on Cuba Street in Wellington (many years ago). Bride of Pinbot if anybody is interested. They walked in wearing hi-vis, asked the staff where it was and then casually loaded it onto the back of the truck.

I had my bike taken from inside my kitchen in a town house was inside a electronically gated car park whilst I slept upstairs. ***ts

I watched someone in a convertable sat in a traffic jam on the Pariferique (SP?) have their mobile phone they were using stolen by the pillion on a moped. Just lent over and grabbed it. Perfect execution.

Some people. The mind woggles.

Deserved more recognition 👏

Think you mean deserves a badge for that…

[pi]Some blokes took a pinball machine away in a cafe/bar I used to frequent on Cuba Street in Wellington (many years ago). Bride of Pinbot if anybody is interested. They walked in wearing hi-vis, asked the staff where it was and then casually loaded it onto the back of the truck.[/i]

At Portsmouth Student Union they had some guys come in and ‘collect’ three fruit machines and a pinball machine.

After a few weeks the replacements arrived but the next day some blokes explained the wrong ones had been delivered so took the new ones back.

6 machine stolen in one month, all with full assistance from the Student Union staff.

6 machine stolen in one month, all with full assistance from the Student Union staff.

Wasn’t uncommon for shop staff to hold the door open for someone walking out with a bike. They’d assume it was going out on test ride.

We did once have a guy try to rob the till. Quiet time in the shop, he picked the youngest female member of staff and bought something small like a puncture repair kit and as she opened the till, he tried to reach over and grab cash.
The noise alerted the armed response officer that I was serving in the next room (the bike shop was laid out across multiple dividing walls) and there was a swiftly resolved crime! 🙂

Back in the 90’s we had to jump off a night bus in Hackney coz wifes friend had puked into her hat, only to be confronted with a guy nicking a car stereo, we politely crossed to the other side of the street.

Lost a few petrol gennys working on building sites drilling or sawing away then nothing no power.
Gone they cut the cable on the last one as my mate super glued the 110v leads into the Genny

Someone smashed Mrs F’s car window so they could steal the out of date tax disc. I worked in a ladies clothing warehouse years ago and was locking up one night. Went to check the toilets and opened the door to find a man with his trousers around his ankles. He was halfway through pulling up a pair of ladies leggings!

Plumber I used to work with was feeding copper pipe through a hole in the wall to the next room. By the time he’d walked round there someone had cut it off and nicked it.
Brickie put his partner saw down on the scaffold, turned round to pick up a brick, turned back and the saw had gone. No sign of anyone around either!

I’ve accidentally stolen a tank of petrol, just filled up and drove off forgetting to pay until later that day and the police popped around and reminded me.

I’ve also twice awoken to tinkering noises in my sleep that I thought were part of a dream, first time was our neighbours car being pushed off the drive – I assumed it was being collected by a garage and went back to bed only to find later on it was being stolen. I had to then tell my neighbour I’d watched it go! Second was sounds of our car starting up and really quietly driving off. I thought it was the wife but found her in the spare room with our newborn son, they’d popped the front door and grabbed the keys and taken the car. On the plus side they walked right past 3k in cash I had ready to go to buy a T4.

Somebody tried to steal a friend’s helmet at Brixton skatepark. He was wearing it at the time!!

There was a spate of that at Richmond Park – scenario was that a cyclist (actually dressed properly, looked the part) was having a coffee at the cafe there keeping an eye on what was coming and going and he’d spot something he liked the look of, finish his coffee and casually saunter over to the rack, get the bike and go. About 500m away was a van, parked up in one of the car parks and he’d ride to that, pop it in the back.

I was talking to someone who works in RP at the weekend and he said this is a massive issue now.

Brickie put his partner saw down on the scaffold, turned round to pick up a brick, turned back and the saw had gone. No sign of anyone around either!

Nobody saw that one coming.

😀

I had a mates bike in my garage while I was doing something with his cranks, I was also running my petrol station. While I was in the shop serving someone, an associate came round the back, went in the garage & nicked mateys bike.
I rang around some lads I knew (2 of them were dodgy anyway) & within minutes 1 of them called back & told me who’d nicked the bike. I then called my mate who went & found the scrote lurking with his mates in a nearby village, mate threatened him with a fate worse than death if he didn’t get it back & said he’d wait there for it, 20 minutes later, hey presto.

My 1st car got stolen. Scrotes opened door by sticking an implement through the letter box, came in and took keys off the coffee table and made off while I was upstairs. Took my grampa mobile on a joy ride, did some burgaling, used stolen credit cards in a petrol station and then burned it out. They actually got done for it in the end and jailed, as the police got their faces easy enough but linking when the credit cards were used to the garage CCTV.

Absolutely brazen but thick as ****. I *think* what attracted them to my house was the neighbour had a porsche and the driveways were a bit unclear which was which. Instead they got a 75bhp shed. I had to replace the door locks and car insurance went astronomical. It easily cost me £1200 in cash over a couple of years.

Knew a guy who had his microwave stolen out of his kitchen whilst he was watching the telly in the other room. It still had his dinner in it.

Was quite common when I was a kid for the fag machines to be knicked from pubs and clubs, whilst they were open as well.

Another guy I knew had his mom’s car stolen off the drive whilst a party was on inside. They had to move some cars out the way in order to knick it. No body noticed until later on.

Also a pall at T in the park who had his wallet knicked whilst he slept in his tent. The wallet was inside his jeans which were rolled up and being used as a pillow at the time.

People are absolutely brazen.

This sort of stuff stops me from having blinging looking bikes. I tend to leave them a bit dirty too to try to deter thieves.