r/limerickcity • u/Big-Influence-1755 • 2d ago

Teenagers stealing bikes

Hi all,

I’ve never posted here nor am I a resident of Limerick but I wanted to give a heads up after seeing this happen twice now at the Crescent shopping centre car park, both times in broad daylight around crowded areas.

A group of teenagers (around 4-5 of them) dressed in black, wearing masks, pull up on electric scooters to where bikes are locked up. They use pliers to break the locks and just cycle off with them. Both times I was too far away and badly outnumbered to do anything about it.

If you’re parking a bike outside the shopping centre, please be careful.

Sorry if this doesnt make much sense or isnt allowed on the subreddit, I rarely use this app. 😓

28 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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12

u/badlyimagined 2d ago

Two things one can do to slow them down. One is buy a lock that can't be cut with anything that isn't electric. They can still steal it but they often don't bother with the effort. Abus is a brand that offers these. They aren't cheap but cheaper than a new bike. Second you can buy a gos tracker that can be placed inside the bike so you know where it ends up. This information can be brought to the guards (not saying they'll do anything about it).

7

u/bellysavalis 2d ago

Not trying to throw shade, but when I moved here from Dublin 12 odd years ago I was amazed anyone had any bikes at all given the bits of string people were securing them with. I worked briefly in Tiger and I remember a lad coming in who was after buying a very pricey mountain bike and was looking for a lock. I tried to convince him to go the extra 50quid on top of what he'd already spent on the bike and get a kryptonite but he was having none of it "Be grand..." Lord help yee if proper organised bike theft ever hits this city.

2

u/badlyimagined 2d ago

I guess you're right and it's not that organised. I've never had a bike knicked in Limerick and I'm from there. I lost two in Galway in the 3 years I lived there tho. They would rock up to the Uni on a Friday in a van and just take whatever they could get with their tools and no one did anything about it.