Bike locks removed at college bike shed by janitor over half term...

[Miljea]

My DS got to college on his £200 bike today to find the quite new £20 D bike lock he'd left there, in the shed, as always, along with others' bike locks- gone.

So he had to leave a £200 bike propped up there all day in an area where the local FB page's top 5 complaints is stolen bikes.

There was no mass email out to students telling them to remove bike locks.

Do we have a case for the replacement cost of the lock?

Clearly neither of you are “whatevs” about it though if he’s withdrawing permission for them to use his success on the prospectus.
The success that presumably this “struggling Tech” played a part in?
Leaving that slightly unpleasant decision aside, wouldn’t him leaving his lock mean that it would cause difficulties for another student should they wish to secure their bike? If it’s attached to the bike stand that must surely get in they way of someone else - you’re effectively reserving the space, and that’s not on really.

Where I live, it's perfectly normal to leave you lock locked up somwhere you commute to every day, the bloody things weigh a ton!

Yes the college was out of order removing it with no signs and no warning... though if it came off with a pair of bolt cutters I'd suggest you need a better one

Well I think that was completely unreasonable of them. It's a college in half term, what on earth harm were the locks doing, and they blatantly know they all belong to kids! It's not like the students were disobeying an order or even ignoring a request, no one asked them not to leave the locks. It's not like they were inconveniencing anyone!

Absurd, YANBU at all OP.

A pre attached bike lock doesnt really reserve the space cause you can qork around it.

Work around it. Don't qork.

Ours don't allow locks to be left after bikes were damaged by students moving them so they could access their locks - seems they thought they had reserved that space and other bikes should move for them 🤦

If you leave something on someone else's property then it's at your own risk.

Somehow I don't think refusing to be poster boy (impressive stealth bragging there, mum) is going to be any sort of revenge. I doubt that the person who removed the locks is going to be in any way affected by your son's petty action. On the other hand, those who helped him get that place, might be. And I doubt they had anything to do with a missing bike lock.

My son leaves his bike lock at his work bike sheds. It’s a pretty standard thing to do. Whoever removed the locks without notice was acting in a very high handed manner and not in a way that had the kids’ best interests at heart.

You need these - fab locks that are light, easy to carry and yet very very strong
www.litelok.com/

I'm sorry that your clearly artistically talented son was unable to safely secure his £200 bike at the struggling Tech using his new, clean £20 lock and I'm sure he won't have this problem at Oxford/RCA/UCL/?????

Did I pick up on all of the things you wanted commented on, OP?

PolPotNoodle

I agree if some have been doing this over the years then there should definitely have been email/signs.

Your response to the situation - that he is no longer willing to be ‘poster boy’ seems unbelievably petulant and is the only thing and first hint of entitlement I read.

"He's whatevs about it. And withdrawing his permission to use his unconditional offer to the top uni for his subject in the country in their prospectus*
That'll teach them.

AllTheIceCream I've known workplaces be fine with locks being left, but not large schools/colleges.
People can be so quick to complain if their DC's bike has been touched, moved, scratched etc even if it has nothing to do with the school and/or its part of using a bike shed, or the scratch never even happened due to the bike sheds.

You'd be amazed at some of the petty complaints schools/colleges can get.

Question - how did they remove the lock if they didn't have the key?

If they were able to remove the lock without damaging it or the bike shed, then either the lock isn't as good as it is being made out or the place where the bikes are being locked is very vulnerable to theft, right?

Let him sort it out for himself. You’re not coming across well OP.

Question - how did they remove the lock if they didn't have the key?

Angle Grinder.

Saying a bike is worth £200 is not really a brag though. (Bikey family who I only wish had £200 bike tastes).

At DH’s workplace, all cyclists were assigned lockers in the bike shed where they could keep their locks and bike stuff. One day the company removed, with no warning, all the lockers and their contents, never to be seen again. Much uproar ensued.

It's perfectly normal everywhere I've ever worked for bike locks to be left attached to the bike racks. I'd expect the same to apply to a school.

There are periodic cleanups but there's always two weeks warning that everything needs to be clear on a certain day or it will be removed.

Kryptonite Keeper Folding D lock is what you need.

Is there any reason you keep referring to his £200 bike as if it's made of solid gold? My distinctively average mid range hybrid was 5x that and I use the above lock on it quite happily. I just don't try to reserve spaces with it for 2.5 years at the struggling local tech

Maybe it wasn't the college and someone pinched the lock.

If he leaves the lock on the stand is there anything stopping someone else getting in earlier and putting their bike on the stand with their lock?

I don't understand all these people who are saying leaving the lock was unreasonable. Honestly, it's completely normal to just leave the lock somewhere where you cycle every day, because they are heavy!

And it's also very normal for schools to tell students when they want something done differently. A mention in assembly, a sign, whatever. There may well have been some abandoned locks, but just destroying the whole lot without warning was unnecessary and a complete waste.

You won't be seeing any money out of them though.

yabu
it's probably in the school policy that posessions are to be removed before breaks.
it's the same in dc school, only there any bike left is taken for scrap...

LimpidPools
Leaving locks hasn't been the norm in any school I've worked in unless the bike facilities were single bike lockers that the student hired a key for (usually a deposit, refunded when the key is returned at the end of the year).

I do think the college should have sent a memo out. We send a notice out at the end of each term telling students that anything left in the lockers at Christmas/Easter/Summer will be taken to lost property (usually uniform) or disposed of. It doesn't seem much to do the same for bike racks.

Most schools clear out any property left in the school so seems reasonable. Bit stupid to leave it in school.