Thursday June 2nd, 2005
I’ve just calmed down.
Nightmare day yesterday. I was just leaving MoneySaving Towers for a meeting, and some little (insert your own swear word) on a bike, grabbed my mobile out of my hand. I chased, even shouted for people to stop him, but I couldn’t catch up.
The frustration is immense, it’s not like the phone can be used, I blocked it quickly, what’s the point - I’m tempted to say I would pay him for its return, but then you just encourage phone-kidnap.
Anyway, the real eye opener was reporting it to the police to get a crime number. After twice holding for over 20 minutes and not getting through, I went down to my local police station, Hammersmith. After queuing for 20 minutes, a very sweet but very new PC took down my details. The entire process took her forty minutes. I hadn’t seen the face of the (swear word again) who took the phone. I only knew his coat.
The questions they have to ask are ridiculous. How much is the phone worth? It’s a mobile for heavens sake, there’s no such thing, it depends on network, upgrade, subsidy. Yet the really annoying thing is the waste of police time in order to get a crime number. The same’s true even if you lose your phone. I, and many others, are perfectly capable of filling in a crime form, and saving the police time, putting more on the street to stop the crime happening in the first place. The sheer 6-page bureaucracy was ridiculous.
Rant over (still seething though!)
