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news
Cyclist suffers shocking injuries as hooded gang steal £12,500 Specialized and beat victim (Metropolitan Police)Cyclist suffers shocking injuries as hooded gang steals £12,500 Specialized and beats victim
An east London cyclist needed multiple surgeries for injuries sustained in a violent bikejacking in Waltham Forest two weeks ago.
Releasing more information in the hope of tracking down the perpetrators, the Metropolitan Police said the incident occurred on Tuesday 23 May at around 19:45 and saw a man in his 40s, aboard a £12,500 Specialized S-Works Tarmac with Roval wheels, pushed from his bike by a group of hooded males who had gathered next to Lea Bridge Road's cycle lane.
The attack happened between the Lea Valley Ice Centre and Lea Valley Riding Centre, just a couple miles north of Lee Valley VeloPark across Hackney Marshes.
Described as "a group of males wearing similar black hoodies" and also on bicycles, the victim was pushed off, one of the men then riding the stolen bike away over the marshes while other members of the group "repeatedly kicked" the victim, breaking his jaw in two places and knocking out teeth. The victim also suffered a broken collarbone and scapula.
"This incident has left the victim with possible nerve damage and has resulted in him needing a number of surgeries," detective constable Helen Cordes said. "It is imperative we track down those responsible.
"This area is routinely used by commuters and I would ask any cyclists in the area at the time to share any helmet or body cams footage that may have captured this incident or suspects. I would also ask anyone in the trade to be on the lookout for this bike and anyone attempting to sell such a high-spec bike."
Anyone who witnessed this incident or has information should call police on 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting reference CAD 7178/23MAY. To remain 100 per cent anonymous please call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Reports of similar bikejacking incidents in and around London have become worryingly common in recent times, last month a machete-wielding teenager who knocked pro cyclist Alexandar Richardson off his bike in Richmond Park in October 2021, dragging the then-Alpecin-Fenix rider for 100m before taking his team-issue bike, was sentenced to 12 months.
> What can be done about the latest spate of bikejackings?
Elsewhere, across almost all parts of London and its outskirts, road.cc has reported on similar incidents in the past two years, pro cyclist Jennifer George saying she has been twice targeted while training out of south-east London to Surrey and explaining that she no longer rides alone for fear of a third attempt.
In response to the growing picture of moped-riding criminals targeting cyclists for expensive bicycles, British Cycling last July said it was "deeply concerned".
"The sad reality however is that when these spikes in violent crime occur, and while we try to understand the pattern of incidents better, it is prudent for individuals, clubs and groups to discuss these concerns together and think carefully about the rides they have planned," policy manager Nick Chamberlain continued.
In March, a Bermondsey cyclist was left bleeding "profusely" after being struck on the nose during yet another bikejacking incident on a popular route that has seen previous similar attacks, so much so that graffiti warning cyclists of attacks was sprayed on the entrance to one section.
Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.
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47 comments
I know these kids, I've worked with these kids. I know their problems, their frustrations and the professor's solution of chopping off their goolies is the only solution.
Alternative solution; government floods the market with mid to high end bikes. Destroy the value in them so the thieves have no market and we all get amazing bikes. Where's the downside?
Well I've looked at this from every angle and can't see a flaw there. The government's just started an experiment with universal basic income (UBI), UNBB (universal non-basic bikes) seems only fair.
Shurely ban high-end bikes but then entire population gets an indestructable clunker. Perhaps Flying Pigeons, imported from our favourite manufacturer? Better - resurrect some local manufacturing for a bit of resilience / meaningful job creation?
If you're going to do communism "have a five year plan or emigrate to become a lackey of the imperialists" as they say, comrade...
Correction - the Tory Govt is doing sweet fa afaik. The Scots and Welsh devolved Govts have projects. The English one run is by a think tank because Tories believe the Peasants should be worked to death.
The international evidence on UBI is patchy at best.
Few countries that have trialled a reasonable UBI (75% of minimum wage or more) have proven a positive effect. Those that introduce a modest UBI e.g. Finland recorded small benefits.
Introduction of UBI in the UK would also result in extremely expensive (and lengthy) changes to the benefits system (processes, systems etc).
McKinsey have a good summary here:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insight...
There's problems with a lot of the UBI trials in that they're often too short term or too small in scale to really see the benefits. If people in a UBI trial know that it's only for a short time (e.g. 2 years) then they're less likely to see it as a proper safety net and give up their main source of income to investigate alternatives.
There was a "mincome" experiment back in the 1970s in Dauphin, Canada that lasted for four years: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200624-canadas-forgotten-universal-basic-income-experiment
It ended due to the oil crisis making it more expensive than budgeted for, but it's striking that they had an 8.5% decline in hospitalisations in such a short time.
Seems to me that cruelty is the point of far right politics
These London bike jackings are getting worse, that poor fella. I can't help but wonder.. if the law caught up with these people now.. I wonder what their sentences would be, I suspect they wouldn't be anywhere near strong enough to act as a deterrant to others. And I expect that young men with black hoods on, account for thousands of London based young men. I bet these crimes are almost dismissed in the Met as too hard to solve/prosecute, which gives the perpetrators almost impunity to carry on. If nothing changes, where is this crimewave heading/spreading?
What's the answer? MORE cameras within London (big brother).. a law to stop people covering thier faces in public spaces (ridiculous), more policemen on patrol (maybe).. what about making the bikes too hot to be wanted, hidden bike trackers would work 'IF' police had powers to actually gain entry to a building where a bike was tracked to, if they acted fast enough before any trackers were removed. I feel tech is the only way forward here but I'm buggered if I could see that actually becoming a way forward.
My (partial) solution would be for a small number of police to specialise in looking round the secondhand bike market for obvious stolen bikes and posing as buyers to catch the vendors. I buy quite a few bikes on behalf of friends and I'd say at least a third of Gumtree ads where I make an enquiry I don't go any further because the bike is so obviously stolen: buyer has no knowledge about the bike, prepared to deal at a ridiculously low price (I was once offered a Pinarello Dogma F12 for £600 "if you can come today with cash") and most telling of all, wants to meet at a train station, bus station or other public place rather than a private address. I'd happily volunteer for free as a spotter to alert the police to the obviously stolen.
I think it's been proven that most bikes are either broken down for parts or shipped off abroad... either way it's organised crime, small scale or large. There's a few video's on youtube about it which are worth a watch.. search VanMoof bike hunters, who found a stash in Morocco.
That I didn't know, I assumed even a topend bike isn't worth enough for that hassle. Interesting. Still, there are definitely plenty of stolen bikes being sold straight on on Gumtree, FB marketplace etc as well so if the rozzers would do something about that (instead of, as has been well documented many times, refusing to go along even when someone has identified their stolen bike and arranged to meet the thief) that would be something.
Yes, this.
When a friend of mine had his garage broken into and 4/5 bikes stolen, the police thought they would be on a container and sold abroad.
Parts are much easier to store and sell - I've heard of thieves wrecking frames, rather than breaking locks, to get the parts.
I'm not convinced that cameras will be sufficient on their own. I was in the area on Saturday afternoon and the sheer number of cyclists, scooter riders and walkers made it feel safe. It is disconcerting that the assault took place as early as 7:45pm, on a light summer evening I would feel subjectively safe.
Pre-emptive patrolling by police on bikes and supported by dog handlers would be my preference, but there are two obstacles to that happening.
1 - The crimes are occurring slap on the boundary between two Basic Command Units. Both will fob you off on to the other.
2 - Crime prevention is hard to measure, let alone attribute cause. If thieves are deterred the police assigned will not get any credit or new resources.
Hopefully the bike can be tracked to the point of sale and the police can work their way back to the initial offenders.
More police is the only answer. Both on patrol in the community, and detectives investigating the thefts and shutting down the whole chain - from thieves to sellers.
Cameras are useless if there's no officers able to follow up, or even look.
Bike jackings -was rife in South Africa when i left and probably still is. Sad state of affairs, I hope the rider heals up quickly and suffers no permanent physical or mental damage.
I'm entirely sorry for the pain and suffering of the victim. I would've put up one hell of a fight had it been my own souped up roller skate.
That said. When are people going to learn? These gangs have the east London paths sewn up. All of them. There are spotters everywhere. They are organised. They communicate well. They know what they want. High risk, high reward.
Ignorance is not bliss. Get your Raleigh banana out!
That whole area on the Lea Bridge Road cycle lane (it's quite segregated from the main road in parts) and all along the River Lea towpath from Hackney to Ponders End is well known for its bike jacking. Saw a gang (3 guys in 2 bikes) on Chalk Bridge (the one into Tottenham marshes near the IKEA) on the towpath at 2pm last week Saturday all hooded up and wearing face coverings looking for their next victims. Whole place was super busy too as the weather was so great...
The police can so easily stop this if they wanted to but don't hold your breath with anything actually happening.
Isn't this the same place where there have been several "bikejackings"? Why don't the police ride a Q-bike and catch at least some of these people?
Guilty chuckle at the thought of the bike dropping a panel to reveal a 3pdr gun.
Never bring an angle grinder to a naval engagement as the saying goes
Overkill and - at around 240kg - might unbalance your bike. The recoil will also affect the handling.
30-06 rounds will do the job perfectly well. The following design actually existed. You could probably disguise this as a front basket. The tandem model might be better though as your stoker can help feed the ammunition belt.
Looking at where the grip and trigger are it might increase the risk of an accidental discharge during a hard stop though.
Maybe a mortarbike would be better?
I found a great selection of "fun" bikes here: http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/TRANSPORT/oddbike/oddbike.htm
Here's the Vickers machine gun tricycle
Not designed to be fired from the bike but could be in an emergency. If your assailant has less than 100mm of armour this will be perfect.
Heretic! That's not a bicycle!
Anyhow, I appear to have fallen down a military bicycle squirrel-hole and have found this interesting site: https://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/wwi-military-bicycle-hire-ww1/
They did a book called "Bad Teeth No Bar" which is now out of print but I found a cheap copy on eBay and just bought it.
Thumbs down for the kit - they could do so much more with that top.
That top gets a resounding Hussar from me
Oh no, hopefully this will get me back into the fold. 😁
Much better, but why does he want two helmets? It's like a hat on a hat.
Meanwhile I want to see a Road.cc test of these wheels - I bet they'd be squeakier than my disc brakes
Ukrainian NLAW team on Delfast e-bike
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