Crossbar bike rack !

Twice  my bike has become a hostage of the careless locker. I have been using the large 'n' shaped bike racks outside Brixton library and Ritzy cinema for some time and generally us bike commuters have been able to distinguish the racks from the bikes quite well. However there have been a couple of occasions when a lock has been carelessly applied.

In the first instance a lock was wrapped around the rack and my crossbar locking all three objects together. Below you can see my bike in the foreground, the offenders chain is wrapped around both my crossbar above and the rack below and then to their frame beyond. My D-type lock is to the bottom left of the picture.

On the next occasion that this happened the offender managed to chain their bike to mine and not to the rack at all. Below you can see their chain around my crossbar and their wheel and frame, but the chain does not go around the rack. This means that I could unlock my bike and take their bike with me, which I didn't, in case you were wondering.

Both of these incidents occurred when I was coming home from work and I resolved them by leaving a note and phone number on their bikes. But I am fully aware that having a grey crossbar at about the same height as the bike rack does add to the confusion.