Bike groups fight back against thieving lowlifes
‘We can’t just let these scumbags take our bikes’
Rising bike crime has led to an increase in vigilante groups taking matters into their own hands.
The BikerBiker group set up by Shane McDonald is different. It operates a pubic Faecbook group and claims to have returned many bikes to owners, as well as having a long list of thieves under scrutiny.
One of their current cases involves Shaun Thompson and his Yamaha MT-07. Brazen thieves arrived on scooters and ran onto his drive near Croydon, armed with a hammer and a hand-held cutter and attempted to steal the £4k machine… while being filmed and shouted at by the victim. It was the third time in a week that the gang had attempted to take Thompson’s bike and after being told police were on their way, they fled – but not before smashing the window of a car belonging to the bike owner’s dad. Shaun contacted BikerBiker, who operate in central London and around Croydon and Bromley. BikerBiker founder and leader McDonald said: “We have names, faces and addresses and will be handing over our evidence to the police.
“Most of our work involves patrolling areas of London, looking for signs of bike theft. If we see something untoward we try to make it as difficult for bike thieves as possible. Sometimes just having a presence or making a song and dance is enough to put the thieves off.” McDonald is now planning to buy a bait bike which he will fit with a tracker in a bid to entice bike thieves. “I want the thieves to have that little bit of doubt. When they go to steal another bike I want them to think it might be my bait bike. We want bike thieves in our areas to know that we know we are onto them.”
O Get a top-quality Oxford alarm lock worth £89.99 when you subscribe to MCN – see full offer details on page 53. New London group hits streets in a bid to get stolen bikes back