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news
Market Place, Cockermouth (source Google Street View).PNGParked bike 'mystery' perplexes Cockermouth residents
Residents of Cockermouth, Cumbria are reportedly perplexed by a bicycle that has been left locked up in the town’s Market Place for more than a month and a half without its owner returning to retrieve it.
The bike – blue and made by British Eagle – has been there since late June, with one local, Andy Rodger, pinpointing the date he first noticed it, reports the Times & Star.
"I remember the day as I was still shocked from the Brexit result. I walk two dogs here every Monday and Friday and noticed the bike. It's a good bike and well-maintained."
The bicycle is secured to a bike stand close to local bike shop 4Play Cycles – yes, really – whose Adam Stitt said: "At first I thought it was someone working in the area who was arriving earlier than me, and leaving later but it's been there a long time."
The owner of another local business, Cockermouth Petcare, said: "It just worries me that no one has claimed it. At first I thought someone had maybe cycled to the pub and then got a taxi home but it's been here so long now."
A case perhaps of a Leave voter celebrating the referendum result with one too many or a Remain supporter drowning their sorrows?
Whatever the reason for it being left there, it’s not the only mystery bike we’ve covered this year.
In May we reported how a London hire bike turned up 18 months after it had been hired, the giveaway being that it still carried Barclays rather than Santander branding.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- rogerwb 3 sec ago
Jump off the bike and run across. I cycle in trainers though.
- momove 1 hour 3 min ago
Cheers for the lesson! Wasn't expecting one so was pleasantly surprised, especially getting to find the origin of "laconic"!
- ktache 1 hour 49 min ago
Isn't it a rights issue?
- Mikezerodown 2 hours 33 min ago
They were before change all systems, then went downhill due to bad adminstration aka CEO who agree to proceed with the worst system I have seen...
- AidanR 2 hours 39 min ago
Same here - it took me by surprise. 10:30am doesn't feel like a dangerous time to cycle; apparently I'm wrong on that.
- Daddy Feebs 2 hours 53 min ago
If anything, it looks a bit like an SL6
- wtjs 3 hours 29 min ago
Other commenters have different views True!
- Daclu Trelub 3 hours 44 min ago
Incredibly bone-headed.
- Sriracha 5 hours 46 min ago
Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".
Add new comment
9 comments
Cockermouth sounds like a nice place. Oxford in contrast has hundreds and hundreds of abandoned bikes, I can never find a spot on a rack without a rusty and buckled wreck occupying space. I also remember a friend of mine who lost a bike on a big night out after he couldn't recall where he had locked it, such is the sea of bikes across the city.
Perhaps the owner was a Remain voter who simply lost the will to pedal.
please keep us up to date as this story develops
News? Or a thinly veiled attempt to move up search engine listings thanks to pointless Brexit references?
I left behind a nice little commuter donkey's ago. Lost my bunch of keys and moved home around the same time so had to leave the bike locked to the stair rail in the flats. Didn't know how to break the lock so tried to get the council to help with it, but it dragged on and never happened. Went back a year later to see if it was still there. Yep, still there, looking grotty.
Pretty nice bike too, little flatbar Ridgeback. Was big money to a broke recent grad.
I'm sure Google would have some lock-breaking ideas... not that I've looked myself of course.
Worth keeping a note of the code on your keys too, so that if you lose them you can order a spare. In fact, you should always have a spare!
Why is this news? One rack of bike stands I use regularly, right in the middle of Bristol, has about four bikes there that haven't moved at all since the winter (or, charitably, they move after I arrive and then are brought back and parked again before I come back for my bike, all the while leaving bits of themselves elsewhere...).
(I don't understand how so many bikes do seem to actually get abandoned and just left on a rack of bike stands...).
Slow news day...?
Not in Cockermouth!