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Bristol woman searches every bike rack in town to retrieve her stolen bike

She only looked away for 40 seconds - and the thieves were up the garden and off with her bike

A Bristol woman whose bike was stolen when she looked away for 40 seconds has pinched it back from the thieves, with help from police.

Liz, who did not want to reveal her surname, was leaving her house on Cheltenham Road when she realised her water bottle was still inside.

She left her bike outside for a few seconds, by which time she returned to find it was missing.

She told the Bristol Post: ”I was not expecting someone to be able to see the bike, let alone come in through the front gate, up the steps and into the garden area in the space of forty second.
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“I ran inside and when I came out the bike was gone.”

She informed the police and began searching the local area, with no joy.

But cycling friends joined the hunt and one got in touch to say they had spotted two men buying a lock for a similar looking bike nearby.

Resourceful Liz began a hunt of all the city centre bike stands, finally happening upon her bike outside a Tesco Metro in Broadmead.

She added her own lock, and called the police.

She said: “I called the police and they assisted in removing the thieves’ bike lock once I had proved that it was my bike.”

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said: “A Giant LIV mountain bike, predominantly blue with orange stripes, was taken from outside the informant’s flat in Cheltenham Road on 8 October between 11-11.16am

“It was recovered by police on same day at about 9.30pm that night and returned to the owner.

“Our enquiries are continuing.”

 

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15 comments

Avatar
LastBoyScout | 6 years ago
0 likes

@Sarah Barth - nice job on the cut and paste from the link. You've even included the "read more" link for another article.

 

Surely the better plan would have been to wait with the police until the thieves returned and then nicked them, but, no doubt, plod would have been too busy to hang around.

Of course, they'll claim they bought it from some bloke in a pub, but that's a pretty short timescale to have done so.

I do wonder whether fitting it with a tracker and using it to follow the thieves home might have revealed a big collection of stolen bikes and other things?

Avatar
BarryBianchi replied to LastBoyScout | 6 years ago
0 likes

LastBoyScout wrote:

 

I do wonder whether fitting it with a tracker and using it to follow the thieves home might have revealed a big collection of stolen bikes and other things?

Yeah - stolen trackers...

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to BarryBianchi | 6 years ago
0 likes

BarryBianchi wrote:

LastBoyScout wrote:

 

I do wonder whether fitting it with a tracker and using it to follow the thieves home might have revealed a big collection of stolen bikes and other things?

 

Yeah - stolen trackers...

Does anyone know of a decent tracker for bikes? The only ones that I've seen for sale have been poorly made ones that don't work very well.

Avatar
BarryBianchi replied to hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

Does anyone know of a decent tracker for bikes?

Yuppidy...

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FrankH | 6 years ago
5 likes

I love the quote from the police after Liz had done all the work:

“It was recovered by police on same day at about 9.30pm that night and returned to the owner."

laugh

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Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
0 likes

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

Avatar
MonkeyPuzzle replied to Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
13 likes
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

It's awful and no one should move here. Please tell all of London.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to MonkeyPuzzle | 6 years ago
4 likes

MonkeyPuzzle wrote:
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

It's awful and no one should move here. Please tell all of London.

Don't worry, we hear you. Even as far back as 1923 it was described as "rather baffling", and lengthy instructions were given to the touring cyclist wishing to avoid the place.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-modern-cyclist-1923-9781908402622/

 

Avatar
MonkeyPuzzle replied to ConcordeCX | 6 years ago
4 likes
ConcordeCX wrote:

MonkeyPuzzle wrote:
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

It's awful and no one should move here. Please tell all of London.

Don't worry, we hear you. Even as far back as 1923 it was described as "rather baffling", and lengthy instructions were given to the touring cyclist wishing to avoid the place.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-modern-cyclist-1923-9781908402622/

 

The baffling is on purpose. It's like a cloaking device.

Avatar
EddyBerckx replied to MonkeyPuzzle | 6 years ago
1 like
MonkeyPuzzle wrote:
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

It's awful and no one should move here. Please tell all of London.

Hey you're the 33rd London borough and Pret have decided to expand beyond their one or two original London shops...

Avatar
Goldfever4 replied to MonkeyPuzzle | 6 years ago
3 likes

MonkeyPuzzle wrote:
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

It's awful and no one should move here. Please tell all of London.

Yes do. Clifton is a crime-riddled dive full of mouthy youths and old people with stale-smelling cardigans.

Avatar
Eton Rifle replied to Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
2 likes
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Reading the side stories on that link, Bristol looks like a shit place to live!

Still better than Yorkshire...  3

Avatar
BarryBianchi | 6 years ago
3 likes

Good perseverance, but entirely basic error.  Always look in the last place first.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to BarryBianchi | 6 years ago
6 likes

BarryBianchi wrote:

Good perseverance, but entirely basic error.  Always look in the last place first.

Or, do what I do which is to continue searching after you've found it.

Avatar
burtthebike | 6 years ago
8 likes

Well done!  Great to read that she got her bike back, and I'm sure she's learned the lesson that you never leave your bike unlocked, even for forty seconds.

The cycling culture in Bristol is really active now, and there have been several instances of cyclists helping people who have had bikes nicked by using social media.  Not sure I'd have the patience to check every bike rack in Bristol though, there must be thousands.

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