One shop in Middlesbrough said Teesside man couldn't get enough of them - at over £100 a pair.

"It wasn't political," said a young man at a bicycle repair shop here who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Professional shops say they do it better, and that's probably true.

The shop says, "Look for our guy in the purple shirt."

Good shops usually say when the equipment is not worth fixing.

The shop apologized and said it was taking action to "make sure this doesn't happen again."

Because there must come a point somewhere in time where the shop will say well you've now had these goods so long they're no longer our responsibility.

"The shop there is like a social study," he said.

"We all love him," said the proprietor of the carpet shop, a 57-year-old woman with long braids and thick glasses.

"There is no law," said one man at a photo shop next to a traffic light that was ignored by nearly every driver.