Seeking the bicycle related wisdom of the internets

[lavendersparkle]

Alec and I went to visit my parents this weekend. We went by train. I got the bus to the station as I had too much luggage and Alec cycled as he had some places to go on the way. As the station cycle park was, as always, completely full when Alec got there on Friday morning, he parked his bicycle against the fence on the pavement and locked it to itself. When we returned on Sunday evening the bicycle was gone. It had not been stolen, instead it had been dragged and thrown into a big pile of bicycles in the cycle park. Alec had to dig it out of the pile. The paintwork had been scratched, the basket had been broken, the handle bar grips were missing and the wheels were bent. All in all I'd say at least £50 worth of damage done to the bicycle by however moved it and threw other bicycles on top of it.

So I want to know the answer to a few questions:

Who moved it and why? The way that the bicycles were all piled up made it look like it was something official but there were no signs saying that they were planning a clearance or notifying cyclists that they're bikes would be in danger of officially sanctioned vandalism this weekend.

Are there any laws/rules against parking ones bicycle on the pavement? In Cambridge it's pretty unavoidable if you use cycling as your main means of transport. There's nowhere close to enough cycle parking almost anywhere in the city. The bicycle wasn't blocking the pavement, it was against a fence and there were no signs saying not to leave bicycles there.

Who can we complain to/take to the small claims court for the damage to the bicycle? It's not that damaged but I feel on principle that it might be worth at least threatening to take them to court. Even when cars are parked illegally in ways which endanger people's lives I don't think anyone would allow parking officials to smash the windscreen or slash the tiers. People should stop feeling that they can abuse cyclists.

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

If it was official then it would probably have been the station staff. There are signs up saying "don't park here" (even though, yes, lots of people do) on lots of parts of the station; there may be (I'm not sure) a generic "park only in the designated parking area" sign. I don't know if they also need a "we are clearing this area tomorrow" notice to be legally covered (they do sometimes have such notices, but they usually say "your bike will be taken away" which is different to "put in a messy pile").

It is possible that the damage didn't occur during the "move bike to pile" operation but rather during the attempts of someone else to recover their bike from the pile - which might muddy the waters as to who is responsible. I'd talk to the station staff in the first instance.

Poorly parked cars do sometimes get towed away, but yes, in that case the car would usually be returned unharmed on payment of the relevant fine (although untaxed cars can apparently be taken away and crushed).

And yes, there is woefully insufficient bike parking at the station.

[alec-corio.livejournal.com]

There aren't any signs threatening removal on the ordinary pavement adjacent to the bike park, which can't be owned by the station since it's a public highway - the signs saying 'don't park here' are just on the walls of the station itself.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that bit. No, I don't recall any signs there either. It still might have been station staff who moved the bikes.

[alec-corio.livejournal.com]

I suspect so - I've emailed the station operators to try and find out if there was a cycle clearance over the week-end.