Absolutely raging....furious in fact.

Oh Katek- that's such a shame. The absolute b...ards. Is the bike insured?

Fortunately yes Marelli, so should get it replaced eventually. Thieving little toads can't leave anything alone.

Oh dear that's the trouble these things are very high cost and highly desirable now.

I wonder what went wrong with -" do not touch" "do not take what is not yours" Unfortunately the thieving few make it hard for us to trust anyone these days, and where once we could leave things knowing they would be safe, now we have to insure them, lock them and hope for the best. I am sorry this has happened Kate, and hope that your son in law will be able to replace his bike without too much trouble.

What bad luck Katek, must have been a really good bike, just what the thieves wanted.My son-in-law always takes his own and DGS bikes on holiday to caravan sites, and they have never been stolen.Either luck of the draw or too ordinary for thieves to take an interest.

My friend has an expensive bike, but has had to get a cheap one to use most of the time, because of the risk of theft. Even the cheapie got stolen when locked up outside the village store! I wonder how these thieves react if their property goes missing, I bet they are up in arms!

KateK I can so sympathise and understand your anger. When my son was 16 he got a holiday job on a local farm cutting courgettes. He worked all summer , in all weathers just to buy the bike of his dreams.

He cycled to school on it for two days before some low life stole it from bike shed. It too was locked with a big secure lock. He was heartbroken and I was

Friends of mine live in a lovely house on what is considered a "good" road in there area. There 4 children had bike stolen so often that the insurance company refused to cover them!

Katek it does seem some consolation that the bike is insured, but of course in the longer term it means that the premium usually goes up

Thanks for kind thoughts everyone. Sil has worked hard for his bike and it's such a pity that he couldn't take it to try out on different roads/routes without this happening. They're currently waiting for site management to check cctv tapes and police are due to visit later. He's also started a FB share as you've no idea how far afield you can get with your FB connections. At least he feels he's doing something. They've only been on this site since Thursday-had previously been on CC site outside Oxford but moved to bigger site for activities for dgs and weren't actually that happy with site before this happened. Cleanliness leaves lot to be desired apparently and DD found dirty nappy in shower.....yeuch.

I'd be raging too, katek. How horrible! I hope it doesn't wreck the holiday completely.

Hopefully not bags-they were already heading up to St Andrews on Thursday this week so last few days of hols should be more peaceful.

Might be worth reporting it here, particularly if it has anything irreplaceable on it.

Thanks for tip Crun, will pass it on

it happens all the time and sometimes people leave bikes which sit in lost property in our town for a year and are then auctioned off.
Did it have number?

DD2 and her family have bikes which they leave at the station or the picnick area, and 'best' bikes which they never leave unattended.
People don't respect property like they used to but then expensive things were not in show. Nobody had them

it's sad to think that "society" has gone this way. I remember a fair few years back exdh & I went to sit at a table in the garden of our local, and found a £10 note on the ground. I took it into the pub, and was told by the landlady that some friends of theirs (who were not exactly flush for money) had been sitting there, had come out for the first time in ages etc. Of course it may have been a load of old whatsit, but my first reaction on finding it was to hand it in!

Even more years back, when I was about 10, I found a cigarette lighter (well before the days of throwaway ones!) next to a bench. I took it to the police station and handed it in. As it wasn't claimed after whatever was the statutory time in those days, the police contacted me and said it was now mine! I seem to remember doing the same with a necklace, probably fake pearls but with a very pretty clasp, same thing happened and I was so proud of it!

Perhaps I was just a very honest child, and then (referring back to the £10 note) a very honest or gullible adult?

A custom built bike frame will have a number.

Many years ago, when DS2 was in the 6th form, he had a job cleaning the leisure centre and setting up for the evening activities. He took my folding bike with him but when his dad collected him, he forgot about my bike. When he went back to look for it, it was gone for good. I reckon he still owes me a bike!

All the trouble they cause and they won't get anything near the bike's true value.

Very honest Phoenix and so should we all be.About 25 years ago I was in the local town centre with DS aged about ten, and we found a £5 note on the ground.We took it to the small police station and handed it in.We were told to check back in a few weeks to see if it had been claimed.Small son very excited and hoping to have some extra money, we went back and it had been claimed the next day by an old lady who was very grateful to get it back.So sometimes people do check with the police when they lose money and are glad to get it back, you never know how much people need it do you?

It does have a number bags-details in pic for any bike aficionados-you never know, someone might come sidling up to you in a pub! Police are promising to come and see them on Thursday (when they leave) so not looking very promising at the moment.

It's all foreign to me by the way. I had a Raleigh with Sturmey Archer gears and a dynamo light that lit/faded depending on how fast you pedalled.

I think you can also get your bicycle frame postcoded.

Remember some kids found a bag stuffed with money that had been pushed into a hedge as they walked to school (in the village I came from). There was nearly £3000 in the bag! Took it to the janitor as he was the first adult they encountered and he promised to hand it in to the police for them...

later that day they asked the headmistress if the police had been in contact..of course she knew nothing about it and janitor claimed the kids must have made it up as he also knew nothing about it. Fortunately the kids were very honest (and the head believed them) so she searched the boiler room and found the bag shoved down the back of the boiler. Thieving git was going to pocket the money himself!

Headmistress took the two kids along to the police station to hand it in.

Months passed and they heard nothing till a policeman arrived at their door and said as no one had claimed the bag, it was now theirs! Each kid received £1500 each. Most went into the bank but they did get two new bikes each so honesty does pay!

My brother also found a diamond ring at the beach once, again handed it to the police, no one claimed so he gave it to my mum when the police returned it.

Alidoll your ring story reminds me of when my DM lost her engagement ring in the street. She'd lost weight and it fell off her finger. Someone found it and thought it was one from a cracker because it was so sparkly, so she didn't think it could be the real thing! The lady's sister (or a friend) saw it and realised it was real, and hallmarked of course, and they took it to the police station. So, thanks to their honesty, my DM and her ring were reunited. It's something that she never forgot.