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Bike stolen from Avanti West Coast train

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  • April 13, 2024 at 1:42 pm #32840
    gekebiba

    My bike (Croix de Fer 20, 2021, blue) was stolen this morning from Avanti West Coast train in Coventry. A man got on with a cheap bike at Watford Junction and got off in Coventry with mine. Avanti requires to store bikes on a separate carriage with next to a drive, where only crew has access to. The train manager provided access to the thief and watched him taking my bike instead of his. Avanti does not allow locking bikes on trains. I’m wondering if I can pursue a compensation from the train company as it didn’t take reasonable care to prevent this theft? The loss is estimated at £800.

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  • April 27, 2024 at 11:01 am #1021041
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    stonojnr

    but I thought that was the

    but I thought that was the Avanti process, your bike doesnt get in the special cycle storage carriage without a printed reservation, that you then need to show to get access back to the bike, and there should be no walk ups even if theres space, you still need a printed reservation.

    the mistake here seems to be the guard gave access to someone simply with a bike reservation, but then didnt match the right bike with right passenger and basically let them take any bike they fancied instead.

    Ive never used Avanti to carry a bike so I dont know if thats because theres a gigantic hole in Avantis process because it relies on people to be honest and only take their bike, or the guard screwed up and didnt check the reservation matched properly.

    and that maybe just because Avanti trains are frequently late, and theres time pressure on dwell times in stations, which the whole cycle carriage thing creates more problems with.

    I never used to use Anglia’s special train carriage for that reason, which totally relied on people being honest fwiw so Avanti havent created a new thing, but because the whole process of getting the bike off the train, meant rushing down the platform to the special bike carriage, hoping the guard remembered you and was unlocking the door to get your bike out, which all easily added 5mins to their stop time, and trains dont usually stop in stations for 5mins, let alone an additional 5mins.

    April 27, 2024 at 8:55 am #1021039
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    Grumpy17

    This would be fairly simple

    This would be fairly simple for train staff to ‘police’,up to a point.

    You get a cycle reservation ticket along with your train ticket. You should be required to show this if you want to gain access to the cycle storage carriage to get a bike. I say ‘a bike’ because there would be nothing to stop you booking your £10 wreck of a bike onto the train and then making off with someone’s £3000 carbon .But then you,the thief, have also made a booking so you should be traceable, as generally there are only one or two bikes in the cycle carriage anyway. At least on the journeys I have made.Realise this isn’t foolproof but it would at least give some extra level of security.Also,on Avanti services you can sit right next to the entrance to the cycle carriage so you can and should be keeping an eye on other shady individuals going in there, even under staff supervision.

     

    April 24, 2024 at 5:51 pm #1021037
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    gekebiba

    thanks for the ideas.

    thanks for the ideas.

    yes, I was a member of Cycling UK. however, it looks like this membership provides only a discount for an additional theft insurance rather than such an insurance. Cycling UK provides legal help in case of an injury of damaged only as far as I can see

    April 24, 2024 at 4:23 pm #1021035
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    Flâneur

    Yes, obviously complain, a

    Yes, obviously complain, a (registered) letter to the CEO perhaps? This should not have happened by Avanti’s stated procedure.

    British Cycling or Cycling UK legal cover (with membership) may support a claim. Were you a member of either at the time of the theft?

    April 24, 2024 at 9:39 am #1021033
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    notMyRealName

    Damn, that sucks. I generally
    Damn, that sucks. I generally feel pretty relaxed with my bike on Avanti trains because the compartment is locked and I don’t have to worry about people being grumpy with me for it being “in the way”. I have been forgotten at the end of the line once or twice, especially if there’s been a staff handover at some point, so I try to make a point of politely reminding the train manager of my existence a bit before my stop. Last time I did this he was quite chatty about the bikes and asked me which one was mine, I wonder if it was because of some internal communication after this happened, the timing lines up approximately.

    April 20, 2024 at 7:05 am #1021031
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    gekebiba

    Thank you, everyone, for your

    Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions and support. 

    British Transport police were helpful, and collected a statement from me and the train manager, though it looks like despite the abundance of video recording, they might not do much with that except for “sharing with local police” who “might know something”. 

    I am still not sure how I could pursue the case with Avanti. Shall I complain to them directly? Does not look like charities like Cycle UK support such cases.

    April 17, 2024 at 1:56 pm #1021029
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    open_roads

    Yes – or replying with “sorry

    Yes – or replying with “sorry, all of our officers are either off sick or attending a mandatory residential training course on preferred pronouns” 

    April 16, 2024 at 9:09 am #1021027
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    MattKelland

    GWR also allows you to make
    GWR also allows you to make bike and seat reservations on its services yourself via your online account, regardless of where you got your ticket.

    April 16, 2024 at 7:35 am #1021025
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    Rod Marton

    The good news is that GWR no

    The good news is that GWR no longer insist on bike bookings. Though this doesn’t solve all the other issues with carrying bikes on GWR trains.

    For the Maidenhead to Bristol booking, it would probably work out cheaper to split the ticket at Didcot. It usually does.

    April 15, 2024 at 9:33 pm #1021013
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    Dnnnnnn

    Try contacting them via

    Try contacting them via Twitter direct messaging – I’ve used them to make bike reservations in the past and had very rapid, helpful replies. They’ll probably tell you if there’s bike space on the longer-distance train you want to book with one ticket covering two trains before you commit to booking. They may also be able to change your seat reservation to be near the bike storage.

    More generally, DMs on Twitter seem very effective for getting rapid and helpful responses to all sorts of things. Not sure why but it’s the only reason I retain a presence in Elon’s house of hate.

    April 15, 2024 at 6:41 pm #1021023
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    john_smith

    You’re right–that was the

    You’re right–that was the other one. The relevance is that people keep complaining about how damaging the platform is, yet they carry on using it.

    April 15, 2024 at 5:43 pm #1021021
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    Dnnnnnn

    Aren’t you thinking of

    Aren’t you thinking of WhatsApp? Either way, what’s the relevance here?

    April 15, 2024 at 3:11 pm #1021019
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    hawkinspeter
    brooksby wrote:
    Avanti does not allow locking bikes on trains.

    What does this mean?  You can’t lock your bike to some part of the train, or you can’t lock it to itself?  And, in either case, why not?

    My guess is that they might conceivably need to move the bikes (e.g if handlebars got tangled) and they wouldn’t be able to do that if they’re locked.

    April 15, 2024 at 3:00 pm #1021017
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    brooksby

    Quote:

    Avanti does not allow locking bikes on trains.

    What does this mean?  You can’t lock your bike to some part of the train, or you can’t lock it to itself?  And, in either case, why not?

    April 15, 2024 at 2:31 pm #1021015
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    john_smith

    Via tw*tter? And then people

    Via tw*tter? And then people are getting upset because the minimum age is being lowered. The world has gone nuts.

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