If I catch someone nicking my bike....?

If by 'granny' you mean a teenage scrote/pikey with a tracksuit and baseball cap, then yes, I think there's plenty around.

i once found myself in a situation .........

a certain individual thought my face a good place to rest his clenched fist

SMASH , once

please dont do that again

SMASH , twice

please sir , no more

SMASH thrice

SMASH , me this time (once and only once)

spent the next year in and out of court , looking at poss jail time , eventually thrown out

your idea of reasonable and the laws is a very different thing

TAKE CAUTION

NeilM":27sctmxu said:

Gun carrying grannys? :shock: What part of Bristol do you live in?

Click to expand...

Do you feel lucky?

The thief isn't complying with the law, so why should you/we? :?

would ya steal from the sledge....

single chainring crankset.

Back in the day, when i lived i Bristol (1995 maybe?), I decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping on Park St. Instead of the hack bike, I took my M2, thinking I'd be in and out of Boots in a tick. I came out, laden with xmas gifts to find Mr. Tea Leaf crouched by my bike, having already cut through the chain and about to make off. I crept up behind him and walloped him over the head was as much force as i could with..............a roll of wrapping paper! It was enough to frighten the living c**p out of him - he staggered to his feet and ran a hundred yards before he felt brave enough to turn round and give me loads of verbal. I felt at the time that wrapping paper wasn't an offensive weapon. I hopped on my bike and rode home thanking my lucky timing and I've never taken a good bike to the shops since.

SLIM":16jg8t8j said:

i once found myself in a situation .........

a certain individual thought my face a good place to rest his clenched fist

SMASH , once

please dont do that again

SMASH , twice

please sir , no more

SMASH thrice

SMASH , me this time (once and only once)

spent the next year in and out of court , looking at poss jail time , eventually thrown out

your idea of reasonable and the laws is a very different thing

TAKE CAUTION

Click to expand...

I cannot emphasise enough how accurate this reply is...

...four years ago I went through exactly the same rigmarole after getting attacked on my own driveway by five drunken youths at quarter to midnight on my return home from work, simply because I didn't have a light for a cigarette when they asked!

I faced the loss of my licence, my livelyhood and my home for simply refusing to let some local scum kick me to death outside my own home! I was arrested, de-arrested (I refused to let them arrest me at 9AM on a Sunday morning four weeks after the event!), re-arrested, charged, finger printed, DNA sampled, held in Eastbourne Custodial Centre all day, you name it I had to go through it.

The majority of the Coppers I came into contact with were very sympathetic and agreed that they would have done exactly the same in the circumstances, but their hands were tied by the current Legal System.

After reducing the charges from ABH to Aggravated Assult to Assult to Affray (that last had me worried because they can convict you for just about anything on that charge! ) they eventually dropped all the charges, not least because I refused to allow them to 'Let me off with a Caution' because that would have still meant the loss of my licence!

A good Legal Aid Solicitor and a very helpful local Copper saw me through the whole legal minefield

The moral of which story is...

...if you see someone nicking your bike challenge them, from a distance, but if that has no effect - let them get on with it; it's just property, and hopefully you've got it insured?

The other side of the coin, of course, is that just 25 years ago I got applauded by the Plod on more than one occasion for taking the law into my own hands when the situation demanded it - once in a crowded pub 'restraining' an oik who had just stabbed a friend of mine! The Chief Superintendent walked up to me in the bar afterwards, looked me firmly in the eye and said 'Well it looks like someone has already dealt with him doesn't it...'

...just as well too, because he only got a few hours Community Service when convicted!

My how times have changed... :?

Even if you are 'THE LAW' you are still not immune to the thieving ratbags..............

Thing is, like I said, I got 'the red mist', quite literally - everything in my field of vision turned red! Now I know where the phrase comes from.

During the few minutes that lasted, I intended to kill the individual, or at least attack them violently. And that wasn't a reasoned decision, it was some sort of primal urge, all conscious thoughts switched off. I don't think I'd be able to help myself.

And no, my bikes aren't insured. Bike insurance is ludicrously expensive. To insure my Norco, I could buy a new bike every year with the premium! I just don't let it out of my sight and it lives in the house. My other bikes, I make as secure as aI can and try never to leave them in public areas.