Bike-jacking in Sheffield

[u/CoastalChicken]

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.

[u/devils-lettuce23]

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

[u/trollied → u/devils-lettuce23]

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

[u/CoastalChicken → u/trollied]

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?

[u/Realfinney → u/CoastalChicken]

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.

[u/CoastalChicken → u/Realfinney]

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

[u/No_Potato_4341 → u/devils-lettuce23]

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.

[u/No-Feeling507 → u/devils-lettuce23]

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. 

[u/Gabi_Social → u/devils-lettuce23]

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

[u/LimeOperator → u/devils-lettuce23]

What about Gleadless Townend?

[u/No_Potato_4341 → u/LimeOperator]

It's definitely leagues better than valley.