Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Just how much do Sainsbury's care about their cyclist customers?
A few days back, we had another post about the theft of bicycle parts from bicycles parked at Sainsbury's. Over a year ago, after writing to Sainsbury's following the theft of his bicycle wheel at Sainsbury's, Osbawn was told:
We are still looking into providing signs warning of theft. They’re currently discussing the best way in which these signs can be worded and how they can be displayed effectively in the car park.
I guess this is either something that takes one helluva lot of 'looking in to' or cyclists are not a priority for Sainsbury's.
I'm not a cyclist and don't rank the needs of cyclists above my right to be a gas guzzling motorist. On this occasion however, I think Sainsbury's are being negligent of their customers' interests and it's a tale that warrants telling. So when I popped over to Sainsbury's for some shopping just now I took a look at the set up for cyclists.
This is what I saw.
This notice in front of the shopping trolley park outside the main door suggests that the store care about their trolleys - and thank goodness about children too. It looks like they even have CCTV protecting something, (but apparently not the cycle park).
This notice shows how much they really do care about their trolleys.
And they care about their disabled customers too, which is appreciated.
Yes they really care about children and disabled customers. They'll even fine you if you don't respect that.
And they also clearly really care about their motorist customers - and they'll fine you if you inconvenience other motorist customers by overstaying.
But it's not clear quite how much they love cyclists. If you stand just in front of the cycle park (next to the petrol station) eleven other warning notices are in visible in just this small part of the car park, but not one related to the protection of bicycles and there's certainly no sign of any security cameras.
At least one cyclist has their own preventative measures in hand.
So, come on Sainsbury's, one wee notice in the veritable forest of notices would be a start.
Tags for Forum Posts: sainsbury's, sainsbury's bike theft
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gerry Platt on
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* There are two areas for parking cycles; niether are covered by CTCV; my advice: lock the bike on a post near the car parking!
* The really big issue is not about bike theft but of danger reduction. About 2 years ago they redesigned the layout of the entry & exit for vehicles, I guess to reduce congestion. About a year before this I spoke to one of the managers about the hazards for cyclists; nothing was done in the re-design.
A cyclist taking the road into Sainsbury's has to cross a rough surface of bricks (between the petrol station & the zebra crossing), this is niether comfortable nor good for the bike. The vast majority of cyclists avoid this & cut onto the pavement just after the petrol station; and exit by the same route. This is an accident waiting to happen, on entry the manouver has to be adjusted with consideration to pedestrians, at the exit it means crossing the traffic leaving the garage as well as giving priority to pedestrians. It would have cost relatively little to have formalised this route with road markings etc. I can only conclude that my feedback was ignored when the area was re-designed.
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Permalink Reply by doug on
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As a keen cyclist, I've followed the woeful tales of Harringay Sainsburys and their disregard for cyclists and cycles. It's fairly obvious from this and other threads that they're not too bothered about complaints/suggestions from individuals - it's one shopper out of several thousand to them.
Maybe there could be a way of forwarding the collection of Sainsburys cycling threads on HOL, to the general manager, so they can get an indication of the depth of feeling, and the potential damage to their reputation.
As was suggested on another thread - if they're not prepared to provide safe cycle parking, then the only option is to take your bike in with you, and I too would be more than happy to join a cycling party to Sainsburys on a shopping spree!!
Cycling is increasing at a rapid rate and surely it makes good business sense to work with cyclists rather than just disregard them as it appears this branch of Sainsburys does.
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Permalink Reply by Dominic Hinshelwood on
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I am all up for a collective protest. I did this with Sainsbury's in Muswell Hill in the '80s with wheelchairs on a Saturday morning, coordinating arrival at respective tills and almost shut down the store, it was fantastic and had to be listened to. Lets do it.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I don't see that putting up warning notices is going to stop the bicycle thieves. If there were notices Sainsbury's could just say " Don't blame us - we did warn you ".
As for access, couldn't you dismount before the upturned bricks ( which I think are there to trigger the locks on the trolleys ) and just wheel it straight across to the cycle park ? That looks to be the quickest way to the park anyway.
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The upturned bricks are right across the road, I presume for traffic calming.
I don't use the cycle stands as they're not covered by CCTV. Cyclists don't want to dismount any more than motorists want to get out & push. Cycling needs to be convenient if more people are to ride (which could be the real solution to the sometimes horendous traffic jams in & out of the whole retail park.
My guess is that this is a familiar story: Design & build for motorised access & when finished throw in some cycle facilities (in this case parking stands & nothing else).
How convenient is that ?-
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John, I guess you don't cycle. Even dismounting doesn't eliminate potential danger.
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I've been cycling for 60 years Gerry. Started so long ago that I could cycle to school and leave the bike in the bike rack without a padlock and it would still be there at 4pm.
And I gave up using stabilisers in spite of the potential danger
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If I had to dismount and push every time a town planner thought I should my cycle would become a shopping trolley instead of a means of transport.
Plus, I take up more space and am less agile when walking next to my bike - more space, more chance for a motorist who isn't looking where they're going running in to me and less chance for me to escape their running me down.
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Permalink Reply by linka on
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My theory: they've calculated the spend for the kind of shop we can fit in our panniers and they've decided they love the roomy car more.
And yes, the rough whatchamabits are a total nightmare. But the pedestrian/cyclist routes through the whole centre are terribly designed terrain, as though the designers thought the place would only ever be for motorists.
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"whatchamabits", did you make that up Linka? lovely word for something so horible.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Thanks for putting this post together Hugh, much appreciated.
I agree with Gerry that there are two issues here - safety for cyclists in terms of getting to/leaving the store, and safe bike parking while you're there.
Personally I think the former is a longer term issue, as it isn't just about Sainsburies (it is about the whole shopping complex in all its glory). But the issue of safe parking while you're there is surely one we can try and push on?
For me there are two key issues:
- Warning signs - this clearly won't solve the problem, but it will alert cyclists to the fact that there are thefts.
- The position of the bike parking area - I never use the area by the garage, which seems very remote from much of the hustle and bustle of the main car park. What about something that was nearer the main doors, and covered more closely by the CCTV and/or the parking attendants? Failing that, what about more supervision of the bike parking areas that exist.
I'm a bit of a wuss so the thought of direct action is a bit scary, but I'd be very happy to draft a letter that we could sign or even organise an online petition? Prompted by the other post on this a few days back I've tweeted a couple of cycling folks about this and the one concrete suggestion that came out of that was to try and put together a user group - but I'm not sure that would be any improvement on a letter/petition, plus this thread - what do others think?#
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