STORY: A coffee shop owner said he felt ‘violated’ after a customer’s bike was stolen at knifepoint in broad daylight and police arrived only to order coffee. Steve Bassi, 71, said the theft was ‘beyond the pale’ and claimed Met Police took more than an hour to arrive afterwards, though other uniformed officers came to order drinks in the meantime. Onar Cranny, 26, was drinking coffee outside Bartons coffee shop in #Bermondsey on Friday February 21 when two men dressed in black pulled up on a motorbike and grabbed her bicycle. When her friend Patrick Archer moved to block them from stealing the bike, they pulled out a knife and he backed away holding his hands in the air. One of the men then slowly slung the bike over his shoulder, before the pair drove away. Ms Cranny, originally from Delaware in the US, had only owned the Trek Madone bike, which can cost £5,000, for around a week. It was just her second ride and she had cycled 25km with Mr Archer, from Canada, before buying coffee and a pastry from Bartons. The pair had just finished their drinks and were preparing to leave the shop. After the theft at 10.55am it took more than an hour for police to reach the shop. Around 35 minutes after the bike was stolen, four uniformed officers entered Bartons but only to order coffee, not to investigate the crime. Mr Bassi said: ‘We had a police van turn up with several officers and we thought they had come to deal with this crime but they had just come for coffee and they said ‘oh, I’m sure somebody will turn up soon’. ‘All of us, we feel violated by this and really, really angry.’ After the theft Mr Bassi started a fundraiser for Ms Cranny on Gofundme. Link in telegram channel.
