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A
sad security story
with
no happy ending
I
had a bike stolen.
The
bike in question was my re-introduction to cycling at the age of 30 something
plus VAT. As I walked into
the kitchen one morning, I saw the door of the shed, which was in the garden
not the kitchen, wide open and that horrible gap where my bike should have
been.
Anyone
who has experienced this will no doubt remember that horrible
sinking feeling in your stomach. Also
the rage you feel and how you swear to remove every tender part
of their anatomy with a blunt knife if you ever get your hands
on the
perpetrators of the crime. If
you are the person that stole my bike, I sincerely hope you suffered
a major dose of boils and scabs that still refuse to heal.
The
fact is that when bikes were black and un-interesting, nobody
stole them. Now bikes
are sexy, impressive and desirable and unfortunately more than
just their
owners desire them.
It is worth remembering that most bikes are stolen from sheds or
garages, as I know to my cost. Therefore you need be equally security
conscious over
where your bike is stored, indeed probably more so. When
a thief is involved, out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind.
The unfortunate thing about cycle theft is that as long as bikes are
available, they will be stolen. 158,000
bikes were REPORTED stolen in the UK last year and, according to Home Office
figures, less than 8 per cent were returned to their owners. It’s also fair to assume many didn’t bother to report the theft because
of this appalling rate of recovery and their bike was not insured.
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