Back off Batman, we’ve got a new hero in town and he goes by the name of The Peddler. Recently, one post on Reddit about an anonymous hero from London went viral. A blurry photo of a guy in a flourescent jacket and a black helmet on his head was shared, along with the caption “This guy calling himself “the peddler” wearing a velodrome helmet and balaclava is returning stolen bikes (including mine) from online sellers and patrolling the streets making sure bikes are properly locked up and registered online. He was just interviewed on the radio!” You can hear The Peddler on BBC radio, by following this link (skip forward 1 hour and 15 minutes of the recording).
More info: Reddit
Here's The Peddler - the anonymous superhero of the streets of South London
Image credits: thepeddler1
One Londoner, who wanted to remain anonymous but calls himself Mark, recently got his bike stolen. Mark says that he has only paid 90 quid for it, while the newer version costs around 900 pounds, so he thought that, in a way, that “it was all fair.” Of course, Mark went to the police about it and they told him that they’ll do their best, but pretty much everyone knows the harsh truth – a bike is not as expensive as a car, so the authorities usually don’t do anything about it. Therefore, imagine Mark’s surprise when one day he got a text message from an unknown number, saying something along the lines of “I have your bike, can I return it to you tomorrow night?” The two guys set up a meeting at 9 o’clock in a parking lot. The thought crossed Mark’s mind, that maybe it was one of his mates pulling a prank. But when a guy with a “pointy velodrome helmet [and] a balaclava covering the top part of his face” came about with Mark’s bike – he then knew for sure that it wasn’t a prank. The Peddler, as he calls himself, returned Mark’s bike that he took from the thief, who stole it in the first place. He saw the bike on Gumtree (sort of like UK’s version of Craigslist). “I cross-indexed the bikeindex.org and Gumtree and got the same matching description of a bike,” The Peddler told to BBC radio. Being the hero that he is, he contacted the bike’s seller on Gumtree, encouraging him to give away the bike or The Peddler will call cops on him. “He just gave it to me straight away,” the bike superhero of South London remembers. He added, that the thieves wanted to get rid of the stolen bikes as soon as possible, in order not to get caught.
The Peddler has already introduced himself to Reddit
Image credits: edude10
The hero admitted that he started doing it after he got his bike stolen, as well. He remembered how crushing the feeling was, knowing that something expensive and valuable of yours had been stolen and there’s no way to get it back. The Peddler said on the same radio show, that it was the first and only bike he returned as of now. Mostly, he’s doing prevention work – putting up stickers all over the town with reminders to properly lock-up your bikes and register them online. When asked, why he’s doing it, The Peddler explained that “I just have this alter ego where I try and prevent something bad.” And why does he want to remain anonymous? “It’s not about me. It’s about doing the good thing.” Several days ago The Peddler himself went on Reddit to answer the questions that people may have. Naturally, there was a whole lot of them.
People didn’t want to miss the chance of getting to know the hero Londoner a little bit better
