Moment architect, 70, fights off gang of moped thieves who were trying to steal his £2,500 Brompton bike

15 May 2023, 08:19

This is the moment a 70-year-old architect showed a gang of moped thieves his mettle as he fends them off while they tried to steal his Brompton bike.

Ben Derbyshire, a well known architect formerly president of the Royal Institute for British Architects, wrested with the thieves as they targeted his £2,500 bike outside a cafe in Hackney in east London.

They had been trying to steal his chained-up bike using an angle-grinder, but Mr Derbyshire rushed out to confront the mob, gripping his beloved bike and hanging on to it as they tried to wrest it from his grasp.

The gang - in blacked out gear and riding mopeds, were thwarted by Mr Derbyshire until his son and the owner of the cafe rushed to his aid - the thieves then give up and leave empty-handed.

Read more: 'I will meet my friend Rishi': Zelenskyy announces surprise trip to UK for 'substantive negotiations'

Read more: 'We mustn't forget how to do things for ourselves': Braverman to increase pressure on Sunak to cut net migration

 Mr Derbyshire told the Evening Standard: “I thought I was in danger. Especially at one point I was rather pinned into position with a lot of bikes in front of me and people behind me and I wasn't in a position to run away if I wanted to.

“I think what happened was, from their point of view, it all got a bit too complicated, so they chickened out.”

He said the thieves tried to steal his daughter’s bike before putting their tools to his Brompton.

He said he was shaken by the incident. “I just think that’s depressing and that they should be so aggressive about it. I mean, trying to intimidate me by, by pushing an angle grinder into my face. That is not on,” he said.

He posted on twitter: “Fended off with the help of son & daughter and the proprietor of El Ganzo!

“Lesson 1: In extremis make lots of noise & take loads of pictures.

“Lesson 2: Swap Brompton for my tatty old Giant?”