How I beat back gang of 8 bike bandits who tried to rob me and broke my leg
Fashion executive’s astonishing bravery... as Britain is gripped by epidemic of violent street robberies and attacks by moped thugs
A BUSINESSWOMAN targeted by a vicious gang of eight robbers on powerful mopeds last night told how she fought them off, kicking one attacker so hard she shattered her ankle.
Alexandra Meyers’s dramatic account comes amid a terrifying ‘epidemic’ of violence and crime launched from two-wheeled vehicles. They include a series of horrific acid attacks in London on Thursday, and the murder early yesterday of a 31-year-old man.
Gangs of robbers on mopeds and pedal cycles now commit up to 50,000 crimes a year in London alone, usually snatching mobile phones, say police. Officers are said to be growing frustrated that strict rules prevent them from giving chase if robbers remove their crash helmets – because of concern for the offenders’ safety.
Ms Meyers, a fashion and luxury creative consultant and former UK communications director for jewellers Tiffany & Co, was attacked in broad daylight as she walked her dog through a leafy square in West London.
The well-drilled raiders struck in force. Three of the powerful machines – each carrying two leather-clad riders in helmets with dark visors – mounted the pavement.
Ms Meyers said she would have handed over her valuable watch – the robbers’ target – but was never given the chance and only struck back in fear of her life because the men tried to drag her along behind a speeding bike.
A fourth machine, also carrying two men, hung back to block the road and she said she owes her life to a mystery Good Samaritan who drove his car straight at the attackers, which gave her the chance to flee.
Ms Meyers, 41, recalled: ‘I was chatting to a friend on the phone when a powerful-looking moped with two men aboard came up on to the pavement, quite slowly.
‘They stopped abruptly in front of me and just grabbed my left hand with the phone in it and tried to get it. I instinctively did not let go. Then they saw I had a watch on and tried to put it off but the metal bracelet had a security clasp preventing it coming off my wrist.
‘At that moment another moped came up next to me and I heard a sound behind me when another pair appeared on a third bike. I was cornered with my back to the wall.’
Often in such incidents, as the rider mounts the pavement, the pillion passenger reaches out to grab the mobile phone from the victim. More worryingly, some robbers, such as those spotted near the BBC’s Central London headquarters in May, wielded a hammer and a crowbar to terrorise victims.
In April, another gang forced a man from his motorcycle in East London by spraying a fire extinguisher in his face, while last month, a woman who refused to let go of her handbag was dragged down the length of a street in Streatham, South London. Astonishingly, she suffering only cuts and bruises before the thugs gave up.
In Ms Meyers’s case, the robbers went into a seemingly well-practised routine.
‘It was like a military operation,’ she recalled. ‘They were all in black leathers with gloves. You couldn’t see anything of them, not even their skin colour.
‘ None of t hem s ai d a word throughout, which made it more sinister. It was all too fast to take in. If they’d asked me for my watch, I’d have handed it over, but instead they just kept relentlessly yanking my arm and the watch in different directions, then the bike with the guy holding my arm began to move off, which would have dragged me on to the road.
‘It wasn’t really a choice. The only alternative to fighting was losing my arm or possibly my life as they wouldn’t let go. I kicked as hard as I could and started punching and kicking as hard as I could just to free myself.’
The forceful and courageous response of an attractive, wellgroomed woman walking a small dog clearly caught her attackers by surprise and they briefly let go.
As Ms Meyers fell to the pavement, she looked up and realised she was now surrounded by six men.
‘At that point I remember seeing a car mounting the kerb and knock-
‘The only alternative to fighting was losing my arm – or my life’
ing the bike behind me over with the two people on it. That is what gave me a chance to pick up the dog and start running.
‘I could feel that I’d broken my ankle but the adrenaline just took over and pushed me on.
‘Then I saw the gang was coming back for me again and I noticed a black cab approaching. I threw myself into the road, pleading with the driver to stop.’
Luckily he did, and his two female passengers said that they had seen what happened but were in two minds whether to stop, fearing for their own safety.
After being examined, doctors confirmed Ms Meyers’s fears – the ankle was broken in two places, leaving her facing an operation this week to fit metal screws and wires.
However, she considers herself fortunate to have escaped a lifechanging injury or worse.
Later she heard that another woman was attacked just 15 minutes later not far away in similar circumstances and one officer told her of his frustration that his colleagues were ‘ not allowed’ to chase motorbike robbers if they had removed their helmets because of police concern for the criminals’ safety. Ms Meyers said: ‘I think it’s a major reason why these people are getting away with this so often. Police hands are tied and it’s very frustrating for them.’
To combat the crimewave, Scot- land Yard’s Operation Venice is targeting 500 known offenders who switch between stolen mopeds and push bikes. Met Commander Julian Bennett said: ‘This is a serious crime because of the risk to everyone involved.’
Referring to the ‘no helmet’ policy, Superintendent Mark Payne said: ‘If a rider takes his helmet off, that’s a result for us.
‘They will drive past five or six CCTV cameras and we will have his face.
‘We will bang on their door at 3am when it is low-risk. Why should we bother chasing them through the streets of London?’
A Met spokesman added: ‘Police can and will undertake pursuits in any situation where it is necessary to do so, in line with nationally approved guidance on pursuing motorcycles and in l i ne with approved tactics.’