Brazen thieves steal Edinburgh A&E nurse’s bike from stairwell ahead of shift

Hannah Shenton, an A&E nurse at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary discovered her bike and its lock had been taken early on Monday morning ahead of her 12 and a half hour shift as she was about to leave to make her way there.

Her bike, which she named Black Panther, is worth more than £800 and is her main mode of transport to her key worker job.

“I locked the bike on Sunday and yesterday when I was going to work it just wasn’t there,” she said, “I was wondering where I left it but I checked and none of the other bikes were taken, just mine. I live on Dalkeith Road and it’s not something I’ve ever heard of happening here.”

Hannah, who previously had a deactivated Facebook page, reactivated it to make the appeal to anyone who could to look out for Black Panther.

The appeal has been shared hundreds of times across the Capital

She wrote: “I got up at 6am today, to go to work which is a 12.5hr shift nursing in a&e, to find that someone had been into my stairwell in the night and stolen my bike (lock included). I don’t drive and my bike (named black panther) is my transport to work.

“I stay in the southside of Edinburgh and would appreciate if anyone could share this, it probably won’t be found but if you see this and you stole my bike, can you put some oil on the chain before you give me it back?”

“I was just so annoyed,” Hannah added, “but I can’t believe all the comments and shares on the post, they have kept me laughing and they’re quite uplifting.”

Dozens of people have commented to offer advice, suggest places to share the details and to offer well wishes.

In a rush to work on Monday morning the nurse had to call for an Uber to get her in on time.

“I was crying in the back of the Uber, the driver must’ve thought something was up as I was on my way to the hospital, but you just get quite attached to your bike, I love going out on cycles and using it to get to work and going to nice places on it, but I know for whoever has taken it it’s not going to take them anywhere good!” She added.

When she arrived at work, Hannah was able to report the incident to a police officer who advised her to keep an eye on Gumtree and Marketplace where stolen bikes are usually sold, however it was unlikely she would get the bike back, now has to wait to see if her insurance will pay out.

Although she is unlikely to have Black Panther returned to her, Hannah has asked anyone who can to look out for it, and report any information to the police or contact her with a message on Facebook.

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