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Stolen BMX recovered after Facebook sightings appeal

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Social media does it again. The power of the internet has helped French semi pro-rider Victor Ory recover his £1,000 BMX bike after it was stolen from outside his flat in Edinburgh a week or so ago.

Victor, who is studying in Edinburgh, had left his BMX outside his flat door as he went back inside to retrieve a lock but found the bike gone on his return.

Victor mentioned the theft to the management of Transgression Park, an indoor street sports centre at Peffermill, where he trains, and they subsequently launched a Facebook appeal to track down the stolen bike. Management were convinced that the Facebook appeal on their page would lead to other members of the Edinburgh BMX community making sightings of the BMX - a BSD TrailorPark.

Sighting

And how right they were proved. A real time sighting of the bike was made of a teenager riding a BMX fitting the description of Victor’s bike around Edinburgh’s Bristo Square last Thursday.

John Bailey, a rider that had helped build the Trangression Park BMX track, was tipped off by the person who made the sighting and he raced off to Bristo Square to see if he could find the bike and the person riding it.

Mr Bailey told the Edinburgh Evening News: “I had just got a phone call from a friend who was eating his lunch in Bristo Square near Potterow and saw this kid cycling past on Victor’s bike.”

“I was in my flat and grabbed my bike and rode around the area for an hour hoping the guy would cycle past again. Eventually I saw him and caught up with him on South Clerk Street. I explained the situation and he told me he’d bought the bike from a friend for £50. I said that it was stolen property and I’d get the police involved which seemed to put him off pursuing it any further.”

Relieved

Victor, who is currently back in France, told the Edinburgh Evening News that he was relieved to have the bike back and praised the efforts of his fellow BMX.

“The city’s BMX community is just amazing, more than 80 people shared a picture of my bike on Facebook, and all these guys have kept an eye in the street for three days.”

We’ve recently updated our guide on what you should do if your bike is stolen. The guide gives tips on what you can proactively do to try and find your stolen bike.


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