Teenage bike thief tells police owner should 'get a better lock'

gethinceri wrote:

There'd be more value in showing a pic of the thief than a pic of the bikes.

Agreed, but sadly you'll need a conviction first.

zanf wrote:

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.

 

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:

zanf wrote:

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.

 

 

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? 

"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:

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.

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:

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.

 

You do see a lot of bikes held in place with what look like £4 specials from Wilko...