A teenage thief in Manchester has told police that the owner of a bike he stole should get a better lock. His words of advice came after a policeman chased after him on one of two stolen bikes in the youth’s possession.
According to the Manchester Evening News, officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) spotted him stealing a Specialized mountain bike by cutting its cable lock outside the force’s public enquiry office on Mount Street on Monday afternoon.
He was riding another stolen bike while pushing his latest acquisition, which a police officer managed to grab from him and pursuing him through the city centre before catching him at the retail park on Great Ancoats Street.
Greater Manchester Police subsequently posted a picture to Twitter of the two bikes recovered from the 17-year-old.
Good result, 17 year old male arrested in possession of these 2 stolen bikes. Bikes now returned to a happy owner. pic.twitter.com/CICqNf08NG
— GMP City Centre (@GMPCityCentre) April 11, 2016
In a second tweet, they added his words of advice.
…..17 year old bike thief charged with theft. His reply to charge: “Tell him to get a better lock. Get a chain. It was his own fault.”
— GMP City Centre (@GMPCityCentre) April 12, 2016
While the thief’s words may strike some as cheeky to say the least, police added, “he has a point.”
It does underline something very important to any bike owner – the more care you take over securing your pride and joy, the less likely it is to be nicked.
Follow the link below for road.cc’s guide to bike security.
> Beginner’s guide to bike security—how to stop bike thieves and protect your bike
10 thoughts on “Teenage bike thief tells police owner should ‘get a better lock’”
FFS – He should get himself
FFS – He should get himself better parents to teach him not to steal.
Victim blaming little scrote. “It’s not my fault occifer he was virtually begging me to steal it.”
Yeah, they should get a chain
Yeah, they should get a chain, then beat the thief with it.
I am in no way condoning him
I am in no way condoning him but if people are going to be cheap and put crappy cable locks on their bikes then they will get stolen.
I was in a bike shop the other week after work and a woman was pondering getting a lock but kept wanting to buy a cable combination lock, rather than a D-lock, despite her friend trying to tell her otherwise.
I offered the woman some advice (Sheldon Brown lock & cable method) and her response was that she wasnt that bothered about it getting stolen. I asked if that was the case why she was bothering to buy a lock at all.
zanf wrote:
But actually no one should have to use a lock. It’s theft taking somone else’s possession. Why does this little scrote think it is right to help himself to something belonging to someone else?
CStar wrote:
“If it’s not nailed down then it’s mine; if the nails can be removed then it’s not nailed down, so it’s mine “. Motto of a generation, it seems…
zanf wrote:
Social contracts are what make society work, the most important of which is honesty.
Bike theft is a universal problem, but in an EU context, the UK stands out as one of the worst. In DE and NL its common to see good bikes disabled by a mediocre lock through the frame and wheel, but not locked to anything specific. In Tokyo it’s not unusual to see a bike simply leaned up agains a wall sans lock. In the UK you need a gold class lock chaining the bike to something immoveable or its gone.
We have lost our social contracts because we have never bothered to maintain them. There is a general social acceptance and apathy towards dishonesty to the extent that we no longer blame the thief for stealing something, but the victim for not adequatly securing it.
What the fuck is wrong with us?
zanf wrote:
You do see a lot of bikes held in place with what look like £4 specials from Wilko…
There’d be more value in
There’d be more value in showing a pic of the thief than a pic of the bikes.
gethinceri wrote:
Agreed, but sadly you’ll need a conviction first.
Hopefully he’ll find Her
Hopefully he’ll find Her Majesty buys really good locks when he stays at her pleasure.