Keep Your Bike Safe When Cycling in Pimlico, Westminster, SW1
The Police have a plan to help us prevent and deter cycle theft and criminal damage – they offer free security marking and advice. Security marking your bike deters potential thieves as your bike can be easily traced if it is stolen.
Today and every other 1st Thursday of every month, from 7.45 – 10am at Duke of York Steps, The Mall SW1.
On alternate months the time will change to 4 – 7pm.
February 2nd 7.45 – 10am at Duke of York Steps, The Mall SW1.
March 1st 4 – 7pm at Duke of York Steps, The Mall SW1
April 5th 7.45 – 10am at Duke of York Steps, The Mall SW1.
etc etc
Buy a decent lock – preferably two
Expect to pay at least £40 for a decent lock
Locking your cycle securely:
- Lock ‘tight’ so that your cycle is hard to move around when parked
- Lock both wheels and the frame to a cycle stand or other immoveable object
- Secure your lock so it does not touch the ground
Visit the London Cycling Campaign website for types of lock and Sold Secure for certified locks.
Get insurance
An easy way to do this is to extend your home contents insurance to cover your bicycle – but make sure it covers you for thefts outside the home too. If your bicycle is particularly valuable you may need to insure it separately. See Bike For All for recommended insurers.
Security mark it
A number of bike marking schemes are available. Always ensure you use an ACPO-approved marking scheme, such as BikeRegister kits – the MPS preferred bike marking product.
As part of their move to improve cycle security, the Cycle Task Force regularly set up engagement stalls offering free security marking and registration onto www.BikeRegister.com. For more information about Cycle Task Force security marking emailcycletaskforce@met.police.uk
If you are marking your bike, please ensure the security mark:
- Is clearly visible, highlighting that the bike is security coded
- Is secure and difficult for a thief to remove
- Include a registration log book, proving ownership
Follow the Three R’s:
Record
Keep a record of the frame number, make and any other marks that can identify your bike if it stolen. If you can’t find your bike frame number, have a look:
- Near the handlebars
- Below the seat post
- By or underneath the pedals
- Towards the back wheel
Register
Register your bike details onto online property databases such as BikeRegister.com. This will help the police return any recovered bikes to the rightful owners
Report
If your bike is stolen in London, please report this to the Metropolitan Police Service by calling 101 or online atwww.online.met.police.uk. In an emergency dial 999.
If you are a victim of bike theft and you suspect your bike is being sold, do not arrange to meet the seller, contact the police, quoting your crime reference number.
Extra points to remember
- Park your bike where it can be seen – people will also see if someone is trying to steal it. Use designated parking areas.
- Make sure the locks catch the bike frame as well as both wheels and the post, or a thief may steal the bike and leave the wheels behind. Also, make sure the post can’t be cut through, or the bike lifted off it
- Don’t leave your bike in the same place every day
- Make it impossible for a thief to smash the lock open: fill the D part of a lock with as much of the bike as possible. Never leave the lock lying on the pavement, where it can be sledge hammered easily
- Take any items that can be removed without tools – wheels, lights, pump, computer, panniers, seat post and saddle – with you
Pimlico Art
a
A sculpture inspired by a notorious Pimlico prison has won an award for emerging artists.
The piece, by Chelsea College of Art and Design student Gloria Zein, will be exhibited in the grounds of the college from today – the area where Millbank Penitentiary stood between 1816 and 1890.
Entitled This Is What Happened, her 3.1-metre high tent-like sculpture is a joint winner of this year’s £10,000 Cass Prize.
Half brightly coloured and half dark, it reflects the history and changes of the area and cities in general.
Up until 1868, everyone sentenced to transportation to Australia was processed through Millbank, and the theme of passage and movement is also replicated in the two 3.5 meter I-beams on which the sculpture sits.
Ms Zein said: “There is a sense of absurdity that an arts school was installed on the site of a former prison – as the latter can enhance criminal careers and the art college can foster artistic careers.”
Originally a student of architecture, her interest in prisons began when she was set a project to design an ideal prison.
Unable to see a solution to this challenge, she eventually handed in a film explaining why she was unable to submit an architectural plan, something she describes as her “first artistic act”.
The second joint winner of the prize, PhD student Aaron Peake, will also see his work exhibited in the grounds of Chelsea College of Art and Design.
Some Cuts Resonate, which features a sliced bronze bell hung alongside a soft mallet, was inspired by cuts to arts funding
It will hang in one of the Parade Ground’s archways, which will act as a loudspeaker, and the sound produced will resonate for well over a minute – perhaps signalling opposition to funding cuts, though Mr Peake does not want to prescribe viewers’ response to the installation.
The bell was cast in bronze at the world famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry, using the same techniques used for casting church bells and Big Ben.
Mr Peake said: “It’s very important to me to create works that are interactive, especially since listening is as relevant as looking when it comes to understanding.
“This gets right away from the ‘do not touch’ signs you see in so many galleries; this piece isn’t complete until people do touch, play and experiment with it.”
The Cass Prize was established in 2010 by the Cass Sculpture Foundation, Cass Art and University of the Arts London, of which Chelsea is a constituent college.
* Both works will be exhibited in the college’s Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground opposite Tate Britain from 5 October before going on display as works for sale at the Cass Sculpture Foundation at Goodwood in mid-November.
BELOW IS FLAT UP THERE
by Julia Oschatz
@ the old Pimlico library, London SW1V 2PU
Private View:
Thursday 29 September 2011
6–9 pm
Exhibition:
30 September – 30 October 2011
Tuesday–Sunday 12–7 pm
Venue:
PALAGKAS.temporary @ the old Pimlico library
Rampayne Street, London SW1V 2PU
(opposite Pimlico Tube)
