..to think that the London Marathon water theives should be named and shamed?

[Jaimx86]

I'm horrified at the news of looters (small group) stealing from the London Marathon water station at Deptford! Some adults are using their child's pram to carry all of the bottles they're taking.
What will people do next year if this goes unpunished? Steal the runners' phones and trainers as they go past?!
The London Marathon Event Manager has said it will be investigated.

[Sparklingbrook]

It will be very interesting to hear what actually happened. Say they were told they could have it? Have they not heard of sharing-why did they have to bring trolleys? Weird.

What does the man in the film say on the Metto piece-the one with the Buxton cap on?

[limitedperiodonly]

Oh FFS. I don't see many marathon runners in that video. Just a few walkers. If any of them was desperate for a drink of water and was denied one by someone helping themselves to the hundreds of bottles of water, that would be different.

But they weren't.

It could be said that the 'looters' helped in the clean up operation. And I guess those bottles might even have had to have been discarded because even though sealed, they might not have met with health and safety regulations. In which case the organisers of the London Marathon should employ people to prevent looting. Just like the organisers of any large public event should organise and pay for public safety and not trust to good will.

The London Marathon is a huge business. It's not all for charidee. They wouldn't give a shit.

[EastMidsMummy]

Who gives a shit?

[Sparklingbrook]

Well people might not give a shit but it's not great to see is it?

[sparechange]

No, they shouldn't have been taking/stealing anything, but at this point - Mike 8, over 3 hours after the start, the course is being cleared up. Barriers are being dismantled and tape being taken down. They haven't deprived anyone of water by doing this.

Some people will do anything for freebies. Even when the freebies are tiny bottles of water that they neither need nor can sell. But it is still a freebie and people will still go nuts for it.

I'm not sure there would be such a froth if they weren't black teens wearing hoodies

[Sparklingbrook]

In the Daily Mail coverage they have pixelated some faces but not others.

[ConfuciousSayWhat]

They pixelated those who appeared under 18 I think

[limitedperiodonly]

I doubt if the organisers of the London Marathon give a shit about people taking bottled water from a part of the course that it appears that nearly every runner has already passed though. It would cost them more to throw it away so I guess that they'd be glad that people took it.

I doubt whether the police would be bothered either because that video doesn't show anyone taking the water behaving aggressively to anyone else.

Greenwich Council would just want everything to be cleared within a strict timescale. Their trading standards dept might be concerned about people flogging bottled water, but that's only if the seals were tampered with, and for another day. It is perfectly legitimate to acquire goods and sell them.

The London Marathon is an inspiring event. But let's not anyone run away with the idea that is all for charity and not enormous business as the premier marathon in the world.

It earns a great deal of money for the organisers, the London boroughs it passes through and attracts professional runners who this year, above all, will have been attempting to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

[Sparklingbrook]

Of course it's a business and I wouldn't expect the organisers to give a toss why would they?

It's all a bit sad really.

[limitedperiodonly]

Why is it sad? The water is there for the taking. It would be wrong to take it from a runner, but they're not doing that. What do you think would happen to it at the end of the day?

[Sparklingbrook]

It's sad because people had to take as much as they possibly could each. There was no need for them all to be loading up trolleys.
But that is just my opinion.

We don't know what the Buxton people told the volunteers to do with it,

[southeastastra]

they will sell it on ebay and make ££££ name and shame the bastards!

[Sparklingbrook]

Do people really buy water from Ebay for more than you can get it for in the bargain shop?

[southeastastra]

i doubt it

[Sparklingbrook]

Actually thinking about it they might do. If it was advertised as 'Official London Marathon 2016 Water'

[HoppingForward]

It looked like chaos.

Imagine being at the water station, the race is near all over and the volunteers tell the spectators they can have some free water.

Do you A) take a couple of bottles of water and say thank you
Or B) turf your child out of their buggy and pile it high with packs of water whilst crowds of people storm in to do the same!

[SilentlyScreamingAgain]

They probably hadn't seen bottled water before in Depford.

[southeastastra]

b

[limitedperiodonly]

Of course you can make money selling branded bottled water with a perfectly good seal on it. Have you never bought one?

I'm not sure I'd want to put in the effort of getting it, storing it and then selling it, but if someone does, that's up to them. It's only going to be poured down the drain. Why aren't you getting upset about the hundreds of empty bottles in the gutter that you can also see in the film and that will have to be disposed of?

At least those people were taking the bottles away.

[CandyFlossBrain]

There's a photo on the DM article which is captioned 'Runners can be seen making their way past as people stole the water, just minutes into the race.' In the photo you can see literally hundreds and hundreds of empty water bottles piled up at the side of the road www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3556430/Dozens-looters-steal-bundles-free-water-left-official-watering-stations-marathon-runners.html Pic 5 currently. Clearly the vast majority had been and gone and why shouldn't people take the surplus? it was there to be used up.

[limitedperiodonly]

They probably hadn't seen bottled water before in Depford.

What do you mean?

[SilentlyScreamingAgain]

After what happened Kit Marlow, nothing would surprise me about Depford people.

[Sparklingbrook]

Not from EBay lpo, no.

[limitedperiodonly]

They were taking bottles of water that were intended to be taken, not stabbing someone in the eye.

And if you acquire your goods for nothing you can undercut the bargain shop. Or wait for a heatwave and auction it to the highest bidder. It's called free enterprise. The Daily Mail is usually in favour of it. So am I.

[Sparklingbrook]

I wouldn't buy bottled water from anywhere but a shop personally.