‘They chickened out!’: Second main architect, 70, fights off gang of moped thieves who had been making an attempt to steal his £2,500 Brompton bike with an angle grinder
- Ben Derbyshire was sat in El Ganso Cafe when the tried theft occurred
That is the second an architect went face-to-face with a bunch of energy tool-wielding moped thieves who had been after his £2,500 Brompton bike whereas he was having lunch.
Ben Derbyshire, an esteemed architect who was president of the Royal Institute for British Architects, 70, wrestled with the masked thieves as they focused his costly bike which was locked exterior a restaurant in Hackney, east London.
The gang had tried to take away the bike from its lock by utilizing angle-grinders.
Mr Derbyshire ran out to confront the group after he noticed the commotion on the road by way of the cafe’s glass home windows and rapidly realised it was his costly bike they had been after.
He may be seen grabbing his telephone with one hand whereas firmly clutching onto his bike with the opposite, because the gang sporting blacked-out helmets attempt to rob him.
Ben Derbyshire, an esteemed architect, was sat in El Ganso Cafe in Hackney, east London, when the tried theft occurred
Mr Derbyshire’s son and the proprietor of El Ganso Cafe are then seen serving to him earlier than the thieves experience off empty handed.
The sufferer, who’s the chairperson of structure agency HTA Design LLP, posted the video on Twitter stating he had been concerned in altercation with ‘angle-grinder-wielding rustlers’.
‘I believed I used to be at risk. Particularly at one level I used to be fairly pinned into place with plenty of bikes in entrance of me and folks behind me and I wasn’t ready to run away if I wished to,’ Mr Derbyshire instructed the Night Normal.
‘I feel what occurred was, from their viewpoint, all of it obtained a bit too difficult, in order that they chickened out.’
He mentioned the thieves had initially taken their instruments to the D lock on his daughter’s bike earlier than taking their drill to his Brompton.
Mr Derbyshire had seen the incident unfold from behind the glass home windows of the restaurant earlier than racing onto the streets the place bystanders captured footage of the theft.
He added: ‘I believed I used to be at risk. Particularly at one level I used to be fairly pinned into place with plenty of bikes in entrance of me and folks behind me and I wasn’t ready to run away if I wished to.’
Mr Derbyshire’s Brompton Bike had been locked exterior the El Ganso café in Hackney, East London
Mr Derbyshire mentioned the incident had left him shaken and depressed.
‘I simply suppose that’s miserable and that they need to be so aggressive about it. I imply, making an attempt to intimidate me by, by pushing an angle grinder into my face. That’s not on,’ he mentioned.
The variety of crimes happening from moped driving criminals has soared within the final decade, with 3,803 moped crimes happening in 2021 in contrast with simply 265 in 2011.
This quantity, nonetheless, has come down in recent times from their peak in 2017 the place there have been 23,909 incidents, in keeping with The Telegraph.
