"Chris A" wrote in message
...

I recently had my bike nicked from outside the gym.
About a fortnight later I was in the pollution chariot stopping off for
a pint of milk when I saw three lads about 17 outside the shop and one
sitting astride my bike. I got the shopkeeper to ring the police who
said they would be an hour and a half. After a heated discussion, I
got the bike back and showved in the back of the car with a big grin.
One for the good guys!

Not really a "one for the good guys". You put yourself in a potentially
dangerous situation to retrieve your stolen bicycle due to the uselessness
of the police. The youths will receive no criminal record or become known to
the police and will just go and pinch someone else's bike to make up for the
loss of this one. They will most probably take a can of spray to the next
one to make it less recognisable.

I can't see this as a win-win situation.