Following the discussion about the guy who's bike got trashed outside City Curry in Brick Lane...

I was meeting my mum for coffee at the natl gallery (her choice). Spent 10 minutes or so trying to find a suitable rail to lock my bike to, with no signs prohibiting me. Eventually I found a suitable rail pretty much in the middle of the square.

Two hours later when I got back, I saw that the bike had been moved aggressively, my front light (£30) was hanging loose and the clamp was destroyed, and a small scratch underneath the light on my top tube had become a big scratch.

Small but definite damage. Wasn't really bothered. As I was unlocking the bike and wondering who'd moved it, an English Heritage warden approached and started saying I shouldn't lock my bike in the square. I apologised and asked him if he had moved my bike, to which he said yes.

At this point I realised my light was broken. I explained the damage, that for this type of light you can't get replacement clamps, and it's a £30 Cateye. He denied it was him. He said it must have been a thief or a kid. I said that it couldn't have been a thief, 'cos the light was still there, and at this point I asked for his name, employer and ID number and he refused to give it to me.

Two of his colleagues came over. I told them I wanted their details. One of them said I couldn't prove it was them. I said he'd admitted moving my bike, and that in any case it wasn't for them to decide whether it could be proven.

At this point one of them (the only English one) said "it'll teach you, won't it?". I said, "teach me what?", and he said, "don't try me, I'm not in the mood for it" and SQUARED UP to me - in front of my mother.

I repeated that he had to give me my details, he refused, I pointed out that I'm a lawyer (exaggeration - not yet), to which he said arsily , "oh, you're one of them". Reconsidering his position, he said "perhaps we got off on the wrong foot".

I mumbled, "well, yeh", and as I said this I took a picture of all three of them on my phone (I can't upload it unfortunately). The effect was like putting a stick up a pig's arse, the other two wardens (one of whom was the one actually responsible) had to drag him off screaming, banging his fist, and shouting "leave your bike here again you're fucked".

So my question is: can I recover my £30? Should I? Can I get him fired? Should I? nb the warden in question is bald/shaven headed, average height, pirate-like, unshaven but not a beard.

christ. that's quite an event.

write a stern letter, explaining grievance, make clear expectations and potential consequence. hope for best.

i don't even want to begin to tell the story about the time i took my mum to an art gallery.

throw a mountain bike at him.

what is an english heritage warden? i mean, what do they do there?

I often have to remind myself that not everyone in London are cunts. However, there seems to be a higher incidence of cunts amongst those who get given a uniform as part of their job package.

Go to your LBS - they'll have a load of light brackets from ex-display models etc. and if any good will probably give you a replacement gratis (if they have one).

And rise above it. They've got a shit job. You've got a nice bike and (what sounds like) a good future career.

you're squealing like a pig about a broken light fitting?? WTF!!

HTFU.

juicy dangler!

Write a complaint to English Heritage. You wont get your £30 back, but at least that twunt should get a slap over the wrist. (It'll take evidence of some sorts to fire him, especially if his colleagues decides to back him up).

I think an LFGSS lynching is in order.

I bet you like the law and other jumped up little twats even less now?

I dunno, give someone a bit of rope and they think they are a cowboy. Thats a real bummer, I would definitely write to them enclosing a photograph. In my experience, these organisations close ranks though and I doubt anyhthing will come of it.

'pikey looking'

what the fuck is this even meant to mean? Im sympathetic to you pedicament but not to this desc.

In the letter stress the fact that a) he wouldn't give you his badge number when requested (breaking the law), b) was using foul language in front of your mother. They might send you some gift vouchers or summat = present for your mum.

As soon as he squared up I would have dropped him. Not acting tough but dude's like that get my goat.

chug it, i don't think ihatelaw was carrying him in the first place?

sorry i know its typo ...

but i got a picture of u asking for ur details,
getting out paper n pen,
writing ur name down lol

Not always the best course of action. I'm quite a chilled guy, but recently, some cunt hit me on the back of the head, real hard. I turned round and was immediately restrained by some bouncers. Needless to say, I was a bit miffed. So I got on with the evening for a bit, and thought I saw the same guy again, called him a cunt. After a ralley of insults- mostly pathetic 'you're a cunt, no you're a cunt' kinda stuff, he squared up and I hit him.
a fight ensued, from which we both ended bleeding a bit. But then quickly got to the part of asking what did the fight start about, at which point, I realised I had the wrong guy.
Its ok though- we shared a beer.

lol!

ok im a lil confused you left your lights on your ride.is that correct?

but yeah fooking rent-a-cops that so called power goes straight to their heads.

why not test him park there again go around the corner or a good spot and film them.

send the vid to me and i'll swing down with my sledge hammer and brake their ankles just like in misery.

ok the last part is serious but shit like this enrages me and all i see is white.

cheers for comments!

I wasn't bothered about the light fitting in itself, though actually, I don't have £30 lying around at the mo (cheers - I'll hit the LBS - but the fitting is an integrated part of the light itself...).

I mean surely we all get pissy about the thought of strangers touching our shit when it's locked up - but I know better than to make a public scene about minor damage. All I did was ask his name and who he worked for and all hell broke loose. The reason I'm pissed off is that a public employee saw fit to square up to me as part of his job!

sorry for inappropriate use of pikey. i will replace it with "pirate looking" but not like a pirate captain, I mean one of the sweaty bald dim-witted ones who guards the treasure and stuff

If someone said "chav looking" would you be so sad? when people say "thats gay" meaning crap, do you get upset? its just another way of saying he looked like he should be stripping the copper off my roof...

I bet he wouldn't like it if you shouted fuck in front of his mum. probably wouldn't take kindly to you damaging any of his stuff either. you can't win as a cyclist.

fuck him up the ass that'll teach him.

Sorry to hear about your prdicament but letter writing is the best you can do unless you stalk him or leave a bait bike e.t.c.

Power happy thug. That what many security people are.

yes you can - race a car driver / bus taker / tube user home through central london :-)

thankyou ihate, most diplomatic.

hael - i find the term pikey particulalry offensive as it is symptomatic of the last form of politically and socially accepted racism in our time - that targeted against the romany people. chav has a similar etymology, no matter what the girls from cheltenham ladies college would have us believe. use of the word 'gay' in a derogatory sense would not cause me to intervene, but only because i feel less of a compulsion to address an issue which certainly gets more exposure than the romani racism one. if pushed yes i object to its use in this sense.

you're right there, compared to other ways of getting about you always win. I was referring more to the attitude the masses towards the bike.

what about gypo, that has to be worse than pikey!?!

i'm quite certain Mr. ihatelaw meant no harm to the Romany community FOR FUCKS SAKE.

Thanks for that, I had always taken the word to mean reference to someone that behaves in an anti social manner, but after reading your response I made a trip to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikey

always good to learn something new :)

off target but I have been laughing at this for the last five minutes solid:

"There's a company in London that does after hours booze to your door. They deliver everything in one of two Smart cars. Trouble is they're losing loads of money having to pay constant parking fines, even though they have parking bays outside their office. They appear to have pissed off the local yoot who come along everynight, pick up the Smart cars and move them, sticking them on double yellows, on the pavement, anywhere that will get them a fine. Best was the time they left them in the middle of a local roundabout."

dogs - yes, i think it is.

super - i agree, but i thought he might have. he has demonstrated that he does not.

everyone knows what pikey looking means. you know, just pikey looking.

could have been worse the police have the power to remove bikes from trafalgar square as they count it as a bomb threat.

I'm guessing you had one of these


If so you can get new brackets from any cateye dealer.

Also find out who has the contract for th cctv in trafalga Sq and apply for the footage of you under the freedom of imformation act, which will cost you 10 quid. Use this to show English Herritage the behaviour of their hired help.
Thats if you can be arsed.

so English Heritage wardens are hired thugs?

how very bizzare.

I've given up fighting these days, but I think the man in question needs to be made to understand the error of his actions and subsequent behaviour.