Stolen bike/broken CCTV

htid

htid

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Hi all,

I leave my bike inside Wimbledon train station in a bike room. The room has 24/7 CCTV. Last week my bike was in there, locked up and somebody went in over last weekend, cut the lock and stole my bike. I reported it to the police who said they would look into it and view CCTV footage. I just received a letter from the police saying the CCTV was at fault and since that was their only line of enquiry, they have to close the case.

I'm wondering if I have anything against Southern who own the station. I leave my bike there under the assumption it's monitored by CCTV. Since I wasn't on and I had no way to know, could I do anything?

Thanks for any advice.
 
Can't comment on that, but it's brought back memories of cycling from Colliers Wood through Richmond park. One of the few places in the London that felt anywhere near normal for me. Then I moved to tooting then Stockwell. Nuff said :eek:
Anyway, back on topic :D
 
htid said:
Hi all,

I leave my bike inside Wimbledon train station in a bike room. The room has 24/7 CCTV. Last week my bike was in there, locked up and somebody went in over last weekend, cut the lock and stole my bike. I reported it to the police who said they would look into it and view CCTV footage. I just received a letter from the police saying the CCTV was at fault and since that was their only line of enquiry, they have to close the case.

I'm wondering if I have anything against Southern who own the station. I leave my bike there under the assumption it's monitored by CCTV. Since I wasn't on and I had no way to know, could I do anything?

Thanks for any advice.
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Fairly sure they'll have covered their arse with a "left at owners risk" sign posted somewhere.
But even if not, unless you are paying specifically for a secured monitored service, with a contract reflecting that, I'd say there's no chance of holding them responsible.
 
Got to say I think Ruth's nailed it unless your specifically paying for secured storage and the implied liability that would come with that your likely onto a loser, have you got it covered maybe by your home contents insurance?
 
I think there is also a point of reasonable expectations. How long have they've known that their secure storage wasn't secured? What procedures do they have in place to test and check their CCTV cameras? What are the access controls to the bike room? What are the terms and conditions under which you store your bike? What was the approximate replacement value of the bike? And so on. Depending on the answers, you could put a well formed letter together and try and engage. If that has failed following a reasonable amount of time, and you can be bothered, I'd take the story to the regulator and explain the situation there. If still nothing I'd take it to the press...

Saying that, if the bike was a Halfords 'special' or something similar I'd just forget about it. If it wasn't, I would also ask myself why I would leave such an expensive item for a prolonged period of time in an 'unsecured' area (that thought may provide further input to the first letter :)).
 
Put up a sign there, warning other cyclists. And then check with the station to see if they've fixed it because you don't want to lose the next bike.

And make sure you have a cheap crappy looking bike.
 
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Was it only your bike that was taken? Has there been many stolen before or since?
 
htid said:
Hi all,

I leave my bike inside Wimbledon train station in a bike room. The room has 24/7 CCTV. Last week my bike was in there, locked up and somebody went in over last weekend, cut the lock and stole my bike. I reported it to the police who said they would look into it and view CCTV footage. I just received a letter from the police saying the CCTV was at fault and since that was their only line of enquiry, they have to close the case.

I'm wondering if I have anything against Southern who own the station. I leave my bike there under the assumption it's monitored by CCTV. Since I wasn't on and I had no way to know, could I do anything?

Thanks for any advice.
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Unfortunately I think you are onto plums with that one.
If the company had thought there was a remote chance of being held liable for CCTV failure they would not provide it in the first place.
CCTV monitoring is commonplace and so is crime in monitored areas. We never seem to hear of any liability cases. Lots of criminals are recorded on CCTV that produces images that are rubbish to the point of being useless. Never hear of anyone being compensated because the CCTV was not up to the job which, in effect, amounts to the same as being faulty.
 
Inside job he who nicked your bike knew the cctv was bust :-(
 
Thanks for the replies everybody. I thought that would be the case but just wanted to ask on the off chance. It was only worth £500 but luckily it was a gift from work a few years ago so the only thing I've really 'lost' is the free transport it provides.

I think it was only my bike taken and the station manager seemed very surprised to hear that it had been stolen so I assume it doesn't happen very often.
 
htid said:
It was only worth £500 but luckily it was a gift from work a few years ago so the only thing I've really 'lost' is the free transport it provides.
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No, you lost the replacement price assuming you intend to replace it.
 
Steep said:
No, you lost the replacement price assuming you intend to replace it.
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That's true though I'm hoping work will buy me another (its a good company and I'm pretty sure my boss will just buy me one).
 
htid said:
That's true though I'm hoping work will buy me another (its a good company and I'm pretty sure my boss will just buy me one).
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Watch out for the tax implications when that happens, you may become liable for benefit in kind.
 
Get in touch with Boris about it.
Tell him you are telling everyone on social media to warn them about it & how it may encourage people not to cycle or use public transport.
 
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