A cyclist managed to get revenge on the thief who nabbed his bike after spotting it chained up and stealing it back – then leaving a hilarious ‘passive aggressive’ sequence of notes.
Tom Cridland, 33, spotted the four notes on Tuesday night on Shoreditch high street while looking for a spot to lock up his friend’s bike.
The financial regulator from Brixton believes the notes, stuck to the bike rack, are particularly funny as they show the victim’s path from angry to quickly calming down and ending up merely sarcastic.
The victim fails to hide their anger with the first note, which simply reads ‘you c***’.
Tom Cridland, 33, spotted the four notes on Tuesday night on Shoreditch high street while looking for a spot to lock up his friend’s bike
Then they write ‘next time you steal a bike, use a different lock’, followed by ‘thank you for leaving on our route to town’.
By the final note, the writer as clearly calmed down and offers sarcastically ‘you can keep the seat for a memento’.
Mr Cridland said: ‘Me and my friend were looking for a spot to lock his bike up and we just noticed these sticky notes.
‘I thought they were really funny. They are so passive aggressive, I think it’s great.
The victim fails to hide their anger with the first note, which simply reads ‘you c***’. Then they write ‘next time you steal a bike, use a different lock’, followed by ‘thank you for leaving on our route to town’
‘I love the little notes as I think they raise more questions than they do answers.
‘Like how did the thief manage to get the lock off and use the same one to lock it up?
‘Or how far away was the bike stolen from for it to end up back with its owner?
‘There are just a lot of questions.
‘It was raining too and the post it notes didn’t look too wet or weren’t hanging off so they must have only been stuck there about 20 minutes before.
‘I think it is up there with one of the most passive aggressive notes I’ve ever seen before.
‘I love how it actually started really aggressive and phased out to passive..
‘I’m glad the person who had it stolen in the first place has managed to get their bike back.
‘There was a happy ending in the end, fair play to the person who got it back.’
As a keen cyclist himself, Mr Cridland could sympathise with how the bike owner must have felt as while he’s never had his full bike stolen he has had his wheel nicked.
Mr Cridland said: ‘I cycle to work every day and I have a big lock to try and keep it safe.
‘Luckily I’ve never had a whole bike stolen but I have heard a lot of stories from people who have.
‘I did have my wheel stolen once, which was a bit annoying as I couldn’t get home properly.
‘I tried getting on the tube but they wouldn’t let me on with a bike.
‘I managed to talk them round as technically it was no longer bicycle as it only had one wheel.
‘I think if I had spotted my stolen bike chained up I definitely would have tried to get it back but I don’t think I would have bothered leaving a note.
‘But it is really frustrating when someone steals something from you so I can see why they did it.’