The moment bike-riding vigilante Cycling Mikey confronted two alleged mobile phone thieves in west London has been caught on camera.
Two videos were posted of the exchange on Wednesday — one from the perspective of the e-bike riders — and one published by Mikey, whose real name is Michael van Erp.
In the riders’ video, entitled “Cycling Mikey pulls out a flicky”, one of the two e-bike riders can be heard shouting “Oh boy, no way! Is that Cycling Mikey?”, after spotting the media personality.
He then turns his bike around to confirm it’s him, before laughing and saying “Oi it’s Cycling Mikey”. He goes on to taunt van Erp who appears to pull an item out of his pocket. The e-bike rider then cycles off and shouts, “Oi, oi, we’ll see you soon Mikey.”
The video claims the item is a ‘flicky’, which is short for flick-knife, but van Erp has since pointed out the item was nothing more than a “Sharpie” pen.
The buildup to the confrontation was captured by Cycling Mikey on his YouTube channel.
He follows the pair of e-bikers from the roundabout on Great West Road, Chiswick. Passing another cyclist, Mikey says “mobile phone thieves those guys”.
Following the confrontation, Mikey calls the police on the ‘thieves’ after insisting “I will finish you” as he brandishes his sharpie.
Mr van Erp also claims the alleged thieves disposed a bag over the side of the bridge above the railway line, later going in search of it in the graveyard below.
In response to the claims he was carrying a knife, Mr van Erp told LBC: "I don't carry a knife and never have. You can just about see it my own video - it's a rounded black plastic object. I don't think you could hurt anyone with it.
"Amusingly it's a Sharpie, but there's nothing sharp about it, just a rounded plastic pen. Mind you, they do say the pen is mightier than the sword!”
In a statement, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of footage circulating on social media which appears to show an incident in Gunnersbury Avenue, Chiswick, on an unspecified date. No arrests have been made at this stage.
“Anybody who witnessed the incident is urged to contact the police by calling 101, or 999 in an emergency.”
