According to a new report by Blick, a number of keen cyclists who drop their bikes off near Basel SBB train station are now facing nasty shocks when they return - their bikes have disappeared. The public transport firm explained that it is trying to educate cyclists about leaving their bikes in proper parking spaces. 

Basel resident returned to station to find bike had vanished

One woman in Basel had a particularly stressful ordeal when trying to locate her lost bike. She told the Basler Zeitung that after leaving her bike for an hour and a half, she came back to find it with an extra lock attached. Shocked, the woman then went to find a police officer to ask for help to remove the lock and free her bike.

However, upon arriving back at her bike, the woman faced another shock - her bike was now totally gone - “and all the other bikes [parked there] were gone too”, she told the newspaper. The police then referred the woman in question to SBB, who they said would help trace her missing bike. 

The woman was sent to SBB customer service, who told her to find the station’s caretaker. After searching for the caretaker to no avail, the woman tried lost and found, where she was told to attend a bike clearance event happening on another day. Eventually, the woman ended up at the SBB information desk again - where she was told to talk to the police. Around and around she went looking for answers, with no luck.

Uncollected bikes could be sent to Africa, claims cyclist

Eventually, the woman received a call from SBB, but only after being stuck without a bike for five days. The company told her that they had taken her bike into a basement after she parked it improperly. 

"I was informed that SBB has recently started collecting bikes regularly to educate people", she told the Basler Zeitung. The woman also claimed that SBB was going to ship long-unclaimed bikes to Africa, but the company has not yet commented on this. 

Since the incident, SBB has apologised to the woman for the days-long inconvenience. Nevertheless, the company maintains that the woman parked incorrectly on private SBB property and therefore the company had the right to take the bike. The police in the canton agree with the company, stating that they have the legal right to remove bikes parked illegally on private property.

Image: Shutterstock.com / JackPark