I noticed this shiny little capsule, discarded in a gutter in Abingdon, and often see a lot more of them at a location near where I work, just down the road from an abattoir. The capsules release Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, to whip up cream. It is apparently legal to possess them for whipping purposes in England and Wales but it is illegal to sell to anyone under 18 if you think they’re likely to inhale them. They were made illegal with other previously so-called legal highs in May 2016. Maybe the abattoir employees inhale them at lunch time.

The weekend before last we were woken by banging on the door sometime between 11 pm and midnight. We went downstairs to be confronted by two policemen who said that our car had been speeding on the Oxford East bypass. It then failed to stop and had hit another car escaping. They found the same car parked near our house.

We had been together all evening so knew it wasn’t us, but couldn’t find the keys at first. For some time the police did not believe our account, and thought somebody we knew had used the car.

Watching the video in the police car I could see it was our car make and number plate, but the car in the video was cleaner than ours, and it must have sustained damage hitting the other vehicle. Our car did not appear to have any damage. Then we did find both keys.

Finally the police said they thought somebody had cloned our number plate. They then found the car with the cloned plates in Oxford.

In future I am going to make our car more distinctive so there is no mistaking it.

George says “A couple of months ago my Granddaughters’ lovely Dawes cycle was stolen outside the Boundary House. This week the wheels of my son’s pride and joy were stolen whilst chained up on Stratton Way. What’s it all coming to?”

These are not the first cases I have heard about recently. Take care, thieves operating.

The June report by the town centre Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) says “Over the last month we have once again seen a sharp increase in the report of bicycle thefts within the town. The neighbourhood team have been working on identifying possible suspects through CCTV … ”

So be careful. Their advice is “Ensure you have locked your bicycle securely to an immovable object using a good quality lock, your bicycle should be locked even if only leaving it for a matter of moments.“