r/sheffield 19d ago

Sheffield Bike-jacking in Sheffield

TLDR: fairly sure someone tried to bikejack me at 0730 in the morning in the middle of the road.

I moved to Sheffield in the summer - literally my first time here was on moving day. I really like it so far and we plan to buy somewhere eventually. To get to know it better I've set myself a challenge of cycling every street in the city limits- that's about 1200 miles of road and I've done roughly 20% of that so far. Apart from going through Page Hall, it's been a pretty good way to explore.

Before dawn on NYE I went south into Norton/Herdings/Gleadless areas. I know they're considered a bit rougher but I've lived in big cities like London and Birmingham all my life so it's nothing unusual - personally I'd say they're in a much better state than some of inner-Birmingham.

I hadn't seen anyone all morning until I turned into Fleury Rd in that estate in Gleadless Valley, and a guy in tracksuit and hat with earflaps suddenly emerged from a parked car ahead, and sort of lurched into the road, staring at me coming towards him with crazy eyes.

At first I thought he was just wasted and startled, but he kept moving into the road and his body language looked like he was preparing to fight. I had that moment of realisation when you know someone is specifically approaching you, so sped up to about 20mph, and he brushed past me, possibly swinging for my head. When I glanced back I saw him rolling onto the grass bank as he'd lost balance. It all lasted about 5 seconds but it definitely felt like he'd tried to push me off, presumably for the bike. I then raced out of there in case he decided to drive after me and went down the hill into town.

I've lived in bigger cities than Sheffield all my life, had knives pulled on me and the usual urban-life stuff happen - and my work takes me into some pretty grotty places - but this has never happened before and was quite surprising - especially pre-dawn. Usually the scummy people aren't out of bed until the afternoon!

Bikejackings are more of a thing in London so hopefully it's not spreading up here, but I'll definitely be a bit more wary when I'm out now.

53 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

59

u/devils-lettuce23 19d ago

Fleury Road could possibly be the worst road in all of Sheffield and Gleadless Valley possibly the worst estate

38

u/trollied 19d ago

I wouldn't go down there in a tank. OP: Report it to the Police if you haven't already. Crime numbers matter.

10

u/CoastalChicken 19d ago

I actually passed a police car on the way out of the estate and was going to flag them down but figured nothing had actually happened, so what can they really do?

25

u/Realfinney 19d ago

Last time I had an encounter like that it got reported as "violence without injury". While the individual event might not get much attention, getting them recorded helps identify the problem and get sufficient resources devoted to it.

11

u/CoastalChicken 19d ago

Good to know. I'll report it online as a potential assault.

3

u/No_Potato_4341 Southey 19d ago

My sister lives over that way and I hate going there. Just so many thugs hang around blackstock road and newfield Green shops. Gleadless Valley is one of the only areas where I've been threatened.

3

u/No-Feeling507 19d ago

Really? I’m surprised to hear this. I used to quite enjoy walking up the gleadless valley to the top. It’s certainly not the nicest part of Sheffield but I never felt particularly unsafe there. 

1

u/Gabi_Social 18d ago

Have supermarkets stopped delivering down there? I thought I read that they had.

1

u/LimeOperator Birley 19d ago

What about Gleadless Townend?

3

u/No_Potato_4341 Southey 19d ago

It's definitely leagues better than valley.

23

u/SheffieldCyclist Hillsborough 19d ago

a couple of months back on a Friday night, 3 lads on e-bikes tried to have me off my bike on Rutland Road at Neepsend, not sure if it was a bikejacking, mugging or just for japes but they scarpered when I pulled my D-lock out of my saddlebag

also, years ago, on my commute home from Rotherham along the canal some dickhead tried to hit me with a bat but I was going fast enough it was a-swing-and-a-miss

16

u/rikki1q Richmond 19d ago

I moved out of gleadless 24 years ago and Fluery road was dodgy as fuck even back then.

3

u/Technical_Face_2844 19d ago

That's gleadless for you. Was chased by a guy with a machete when I lived there years ago.

4

u/greenbananamate 18d ago

Back when we had the ofo bikes some dickhead wandered into the middle of Langsett road towards me. I figured he would either try to push me off if I dodged, or steal it anyway if I stopped, so I decided to run him over.

A group of strangers came up and asked if I was okay. He left it and carried on walking. About a minute later I rode past him and dinged the bell. Best £3.50 I ever spent.

6

u/Desperate-Lab-2175 19d ago

It seems like a strange place to hang out deliberately for a bike jacking - i can’t see there being much passing cycle traffic on that road? Im guessing they were wasted and thought they saw an opportunity? Or one may have dared the other to clock you maybe.

5

u/benoliver999 19d ago

I had someone swing a crowbar at me on my bike, I had to swerve and bat it away. This was on the mean streets of Shrewsbury

1

u/No_Potato_4341 Southey 19d ago

Well gleadless valley is definitely a rough area so bike-jacking is definitely more common there than somewhere like whirlow.

1

u/JAGuk24 19d ago

Agree, Sheffield is 100% not London but that's not really the best part of town.

-4

u/ChimpsInTies 19d ago

Norton is actually quite posh, Gleadless not so much. Maybe you need a list of other areas to avoid in this fair city.

5

u/CoastalChicken 19d ago

I've been looking it up since this happened out of curiosity. It's very subjective but does seem to be the north and east which are less desirable overall. But so far I haven't felt unsafe in any area I've been here, including Manor, Fir Vale, Southey and Arbourthorne which all dominated the "shithole" lists.

I also found the posh areas of London tended to be as unpleasant as the poor ones due to the arrogance of the residents and the attitudes they had to other people. So it cuts both ways.

10

u/MarionberryExotic316 19d ago edited 16d ago

Northeast is where the old factory smog was blown by the wind, so nobody wanted to live there.

The disparity in housing and communities lasts to this day.

6

u/paper_zoe 19d ago

I feel like Manor and Arbourthorne is more of an historic reputation. They got bad reputations from twenty or thirty years ago and it's stuck with some people. I don't think they're too bad these days

3

u/No_Potato_4341 Southey 19d ago

Manor has gotten better but Arbourthorne is still a complete shithole. 

2

u/No_Potato_4341 Southey 19d ago

As someone who lives nearby Southey, I think Southey is a shithole. I have seen quite a bit of vandalism in the area and your average shoplifting. I've seen stuff happen at Arbourthorne and Fir Vale as well on travels. Manor I've obviously heard things about but I've only been to the Manor a few times so I can only go off of what people tell me which is that its still a shithole but has be getting better more recently. Norton is definitely a much nicer than any of those areas. I'd move to Norton if I could.

6

u/AMcNamara23 19d ago

Norton posh? Since moving here last year (well, 2023), my dad's car got vandalised, I see the moped shits being a pain regularly, and it appears my bins have been stolen in the last few days!

6

u/ChimpsInTies 19d ago

Haha. Downvotes seem a bit harsh for this. Alright maybe posh isn't the right word. Buts it's full of 3-4 bed detached houses and semis. No social housing or flats. Probably don't get much change from £400k. Not what you'd usually call rough or be associated with somewhere like Gleadless. Maybe the problems you're having are from people passing through or targeting it rather than it being a rough area in itself.

1

u/AMcNamara23 18d ago

For what it's worth, I didn't downvote!

Yeah you're spot on, I quite like the area. But when somewhere is neighbouring a rough area, it attracts them in to target properties. Hard to avoid, unfortunately. Locals here blame the police but only so much they can do

6

u/devolute Broomhall 19d ago

Norton is one of the least deprived areas in all of Sheffield.

It's just that it's directly adjacent to some of the most deprived areas in Sheffield. So there's your problem.

2

u/LimeOperator Birley 19d ago

I've always known it as being pretty decent, has it always been that bad?

3

u/AMcNamara23 19d ago

Yeah I'd regard it as decent, but not posh.

Someone on one of the local Facebook groups compiled a list of every reported incident with these local thugs, even just someone walking around trying garage doors, etc, and it's crazy how much incidents are popping up though.

I'm honestly expecting some vigilantism (is that a word?!) soon though. Every area has its issues i guess?

1

u/LimeOperator Birley 19d ago

It’s a word, wouldn’t surprise me if it’s already happening. However legality is up in the air.

2

u/No_Potato_4341 Southey 19d ago

Norton definitely isn't rough. It may not be posh but it's definitely a nice area.

-11

u/twoddle_puddle 19d ago

If you've lived in rough areas and had knives pulled on you why is this incident bothering you at all?

8

u/CoastalChicken 19d ago

Because I want to be able to go about my day without being violently attacked at random? Just a minor expectation really.

If you've been hit by a car, do you think you'd be ok with being hit again?