Have you been affected by riots?

A mob dragged a motorcyclist from his £9000 superbike and made off with it during rioting in London yesterday.

Andy Burt, 47, was riding his year-old Honda CB1000R home from work in central London just after 6pm when he stumbled into a developing riot in Peckham.

The married father-of-two said: “I was warned before I left the office about trouble in Brixton and Lewisham, but I hadn’t heard anything about Peckham, which is on my usual route home.

“When I got there, I saw a load of people standing in the road and a pizza delivery bike on its side. I thought there had been a road accident and stopped. The next thing I knew, someone shoved me hard from behind and pushed me and the bike over sideways.

“I was dragged away from the bike by youths in hoodies. I don’t know exactly how many but at least half a dozen. In the struggle one of them tried to take my rucksack but didn’t manage it.

“Then they ran off and some bystanders ushered me away to a safer place at the other side of the road.

“Someone tried to get the bike up and failed. They basically couldn’t lift it. Then I tried to go back to it. I don’t really know why. I obviously didn’t think very much.

“As I went to pick it up, I got dragged away and onto the ground again. One guy who must have been about six foot, wearing a brown hoodie, shouted at me to stay back. Then he picked it up and before I knew it he was riding away with a pillion.

“They rode towards south Peckham and I haven’t seen it since. At that point I decided to get out of there.”

Burt, a business manager from Rochester, said there didn’t appear to be a single police officer in the vicinity as the trouble flared.

“I never saw a police officer anywhere,” he said. “I’d overtaken a bus just before stopped and as I walked quickly back up the street I saw it on fire.

“I walked all the way back to the office and by the time I got there, the same burning bus was on the news.”

Burt only bought the naked superbike a month ago for £7500 second-hand. Because the keys were in the ignition when it was stolen, his insurer has said the case must be reviewed before any compensation is paid. 

Have you been affected as a motorcyclist by the riots? Email: steve.farrell@motorcyclenews.com