UNCLAIMED CYCLES

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28475, 3 January 1958, Page 12

UNCLAIMED CYCLES

More Than 300 At Police Station

Does anyone want a bicycle? There are more than 300 overflowing from two large sheds at the Central Police Station,, many of them due to be claimed by their owners.

The bicycles have all been found by members of the public or police constables, and they must be kept for at least six months to allow their owners time to claim them. If they are not claimed by that time, however, the finders are notified and they can have the cycle. If they do not want it, the bicycle is sold, on direction from Wellington.

No bicycles have been sold in Christchurch since July, when 50 of those found in 1956 were sold None of those found this year have been sold yet, and from the look of the sheds, very few have been claimed. On the average, about 15 cycles, in all conditions, are brought into the station after every week-end; about 20 were collected yesterday. According to the police officers in charge of the bicycles, most of them are lost through carelessness, with people not bothering, to lock them when they leiave them. Once they are lost, however, very few people bother to inform the police, which makes it even harder to trace the bicycles to their owners. Even when they have informed the police and their bicycle is found, it often takes many letters to notify them before they claim them; in a lot of cases they do not bother to get them back.

There are the regular bicycles, too, which are lost at least once a month and claimed by grateful owners a week or two later. “Some of them come back month after month,” said the sergeant in charge. “You would think they would take more care after they had lost their cycles once or twice. But too many people just don’t bother to claim them, after we have let them know we have them. Some of them are very good cycles, too; if only people would come to us when their bicycles are missing we would be able to ease the position here considerably.”