Victim of bike theft tweets picture of thieves in the act

Well, the bloke who nicked my bike wasn't going to argue with Warren, he may be the technical editor of Cycling Plus these days, but he's also an ex-repo man and he can be quite er, fierce. He just told the guy it wasn't his, which it obviously wasn't. The thief did try to claim it belonged to him… briefly. Then he dropped the bike and legged it. I'd already reported it stolen and the Police were pretty happy when I told them I'd gotten it back too. I'm pretty sure they had advised me to have a look around central Bath asap as I might spot it. Irony here is that it's the same force as in Bristol where they were much less helpful to you bikeylikey.

No force was used to get the bike back but the thief was confronted and obviously didn't think it worth arguing the toss. My guess is that if you confronted a bike thief and called the police at the same time they might well attend simply to avert the possibility of a disturbance.

Surely having recorded the frame serial number could be a first step in proving the bike's yours in case you see it ridden by someone else after being stolen?
Well, numbers can be milled... I know...

Re the 'former workmate' who repatriated Tony Farrelly's bike: well done, but he was on dodgy ground legally. I saw my daughter's stolen mountain bike being ridden through Bristol, followed in my car while my wife phoned the police about the legal, course of action. Police weren't interested in coming out. Me stopping him and taking the bike back would, apparently,end up with ME being charged with something like robbery. Unless I had solid proof that it had been mine and had been stolen, which I didn't.
Another time, before the above, my own front wheel was stolen from outside the Galleries in Bristol. Walking home, I saw the scumbag with my wheel a couple of miles away trying to sell it to passers-by. Stroke of luck. Obviously I immedediately went and shouted at him, snatched it back, said I was going to call the police. He ran. Little did I know that had the police attended, it could have been me in the dock, not him.

I know their names....knob-end and butt-munch. Please hobble the bastards when you catch them.

Regardless of the owners possible relative foolishness in the way he locked it, (and we've probably all left a bike less than secure "just for a minute", I know I have, it cost me my "racer" as a teenager*)... I'd still like to see the individuals identified and have their fingers broken... oops, small slip, obviously I meant prosecuted...

*on the other hand the mountain bike I had stolen was locked in a drying room, in a private stairwell, with a good quality D lock, sometimes you just can't win.
Bike thieves =scum

It sucks no matter how your bicycle is stolen and those two f*ers there are just that, dim-witted f*ers.

However, if you choose to but a chromed and overly shiny fixie/SS that's all the rage with dim-witted f*ers that don't like to pay for them, you gotta be smarter than to just put a lock around the seat post. Especially in a city. Especially in London.

We all have to learn the hard way some times, @James Jones.

No offense but why didn't the snapper try to gather a possie and out the bugger's off? I know that's easy to say and he did at least take a snap of the action.

if you zoom into the photo, it is pretty clear that the lock is just on the seatpost, looks like the thieves are just trying to take the seatpost off the frame to do away with the bike.
Theres certainly no excuse for blatant theft, but this was just asking for the bike to be taken....makes you wonder if this was some sort of set-up

my thoughts also. Locking the bike around the seatpost is beyond parody. I often lock my bike casually if I'm going to be nearby or if it's just for a few minutes but you've got to lock it around the frame to give at least some deterrence.

looks like it.

Difficult to tell, but it looks like the U-lock is merely locked around the seat-pin, not the frame??

Is it just me or is it the lock around the seatpost?!