How The 'Good People Of Chiswick' Helped A Victim Of Moped Theft

Dick Page's car was broken into while he was lunching with friends

Dick Page

A visitor to Chiswick, whose car was broken into while he was having lunch with friends at Strand on the Green, has thanked local people for their help in helping him retrieve his belongings.

Dick Page wrote to Chiswickw4.com to tell of his experience which happily has not deterred him from visiting W4 again.

Last year he was travelling with his wife from their home near Plymouth to visit relatives in Cambridge. To break the journey they arranged to meet friends for lunch at the City Barge pub by the river.

On returning to their car they found that a rear window had been smashed and Dick's travel bag, containing passports and credit cards along with many other small items, was missing. They contacted the AA to temporarily repair the window so they could continue their journey and cancelled the credit cards.

Dick said, "In the meantime the manager of the City Barge was very attentive and helpful, attempting a temporary repair himself since it was going to take time for the AA to arrive and keeping us supplied with coffee!

"While waiting we received a phone call from Acton Police Station asking if we had been a victim of crime. Our passports, along with several other items in my bag had been handed in. Apparently a man in a van was driving behind a scooter and noticed the pillion passenger throwing articles out of a bag. A lady in a car behind picked them up and took them to Acton."

They went to the station once the window was repaired and collected their passports, one of a pair of hair brushes that had belonged to my Grandfather (pictured above) and various other items. Dick was slightly saddened to lose the other hairbrush and their pet passport was also missing.

He goes on to say, "When we got back home after visiting our relatives there was a message on our phone from a dog walker who had found the pet passport which they kindly posted to us. A few days later we received a phone call from Brittany Ferries. They had been contacted by a person who had found my bag which contained a card with details of our Brittany Ferries Club Voyage membership. We got in touch and he kindly left the bag with a friend who lived close by, who sent it on to us."

He had also asked another friend to walk the street where the discarded articles had been picked up to see if the missing hairbrush could be found. Amazingly she saw it glinting in the undergrowth!

Dick goes on to say, "So virtually all my belongings were returned - an incredible result - and my attempts to recompense the people involved were rejected.

"As a country bumpkin from the West Country I hear terrible tales of crimes in the cities and how Londoners live in their own little worlds. However this episode has totally changed my opinion of city dwellers, especially the kind, conscientious and generous people of Chiswick. Thank you!!

"Ps. I recently had lunch again with friends at The City Barge. It was excellent and my car was
undamaged!"

November 23, 2019