Details received from another local social media platform:
Just want to warn everyone about something that happened to me this morning in Balham. I locked my bike up on Hildreth Street to attend a fitness class nearby, once I came back around 50 minutes later my bike had been locked and secured to a very tired looking bike.
This was no ‘accident’ as it had been secured to the tiny section at the back near the chain. Apparently this is now a new way to steal bikes - they wait for you to give up and leave it and then break into your lock at night. Luckily I waited with my bike and called 101 to report the incident to the police (although there’s not much they can do) but the culprit returned 30 mins later to unlock the bike behind my back once they saw I wasn’t giving up.