Hi all!
Was looking for some friendly advice RE London and parking a scooter/motorcycle on the road overnight. I am a medical student and will be living in Greenwich in a student block who do not provide on site parking so would have to use residential roads. I know I am permitted to do so by the council but is this safe? Crime being particularly high in London, wouldnt want to part with my shiny new bike too early. Just hope someone can give some honest advice as to whether this would be advisable or not. Hope you can help.
Crime is high - so just make it as difficult as possible for them - get a cable lock so you can attach it to something like a lampost if possible and stick a disc lock on the front as well.
Park it in a designated bike bay if you can - if you park it among cars some chump will just knock it over.
London is chock full of worthless thieving wankers.
And that’s just the financial district . . .
Thanks for the reply, I am torn as it is only a 125cc scooter so shouldnt be very hard for someone to shift into a van. 
Have a scout around for a secure bay with something to chain the bike to, http://www.parkingforbikes.com/map/onlinemap might help.
Failing that, find a spot near a lampost that you can chain it to. Get the biggest chain you can and fix the bike to something solid - Almax chains are widely considered to be the nuts but anything over 16mm is going to require some pretty heavy duty cutting gear to get through it (smaller chains can be cut with bolt croppers in no time, have a look at the videos on the Almax website). If it’s a shiny new scooter then get a cheap cover to make it less obvious.
If you’re a medical student, can you park at the hospital? They may have 24hour security that you can park near.
Be careful but don’t get paranoid - I parked my scooter on the road (in south london) from new with just a 13mm chain and usually a cover - never had any trouble 
I got a reasonably priced 16mm chain and docking station from a place called PJB security, doesn’t have the Almax reputation but it’s a beefy bugger and they’re a bit more student budget friendly
Thanks monkimark for the great advice! I can park in the hospital ok but its parking “at home” in Deptford that will be the problem. I will be living in a student block and they REFUSE to allow my scooter on site! I did have a gander around the area last night, seems reasonably safe but there were no parking bays for bikes though one dude seemed to have a cycle with just a disc lock. Would a scooter chained to a lamp post (i.e. an almax) with a disc lock under a cover be reasonably safe? From my scouting of the area, this would be the only possibility :crying:
