Beating the thieves
CRIME Brave victim recovers stolen bike
‘I ducked down in my car seat and waited’ MINA BLOOMFIELD
What started out as a relaxed Friday rideout to try on a new helmet quickly turned into an adrenaline-fuelled surveillance mission for London biker Mina Bloomfield after she discovered that her ex-partner’s machine had been stolen. According to a neighbour, her ex Paul’s Kawasaki Z1000SX had been lifted into a van by three men. The neighbour had a picture of the theft taking place but hadn’t managed to record the van’s registration. Luckily, the bike was fitted with a tracker and when Mina heard the address it had been moved to, she recognised roughly where it was. “You hear so much about bikes being stolen and them not coming back and I just thought ‘I’m not having that’,” Mina told MCN. “I needed to go out for fuel anyway, so I thought I’d go and see if I could find the van. I don’t know what possessed me really because you hear horror stories of thieves being tooled-up.” Mina drove to the address and found two vans that fitted the description and took pictures of the registration plates. “I knew in the back of my mind that the police don’t respond very quickly to bike theft, so I parked up around the corner and sent the images to Paul who confirmed which van it was.
“I didn’t want to get out of the car in case anyone saw me and at this point I thought about what I was actually going to do if the police didn’t turn up; I’m a female alone on a Friday night in a housing estate in a not-so-nice part of Enfield.
“I drove around in circles to bide my time and then parked up in a position where I could see the van. I sort of ducked down in my seat because I was so worried someone would see me.” Luckily, it wasn’t too long before the police arrived, followed by Paul to collect the bike. The van was unlocked and there was only minor damage. Mina added: “I think I was fuelled by adrenaline and the fact that bike thefts keep happening.”