Trip out in London using the Boris Bikes 12th December 2011

We decided to use the Boris bikes as Richard couldn't get his bike up here from Canvey and thought it'll be safer to use their bikes rather then leaving our chained up in London.
We started our day off at Elm Park Tube Station, trains run every 3 to 10 minutes the sign says, half hour later still waiting the tube eventually arrives. We eventually arrive at Westminster Station, we walked along Whitehall and had a late breakfast at a pub. Afterwards we got out first Boris bike from the Strand. We set off towards Birdcage Walk.

Ok, so these bikes look Clumsy,heavy and uncomfortable, but how wrong were we!!! They were much worse!! They were Very Heavy,Very uncomfortable ,very slow, poor gear changes and the brakes well, you need to start thinking about braking half mile before you need to!!
We made our way up to Buckingham Palace, where we stopped for a few photos before cycling on.

We cycled round Hyde Park corner and into Hyde Park to visit Winter Wonderland, the bikes were docked, green lights came on indicating so and we walked off to Winter Wonderland.

We tried some silly hats on before moving on........

We took a few more silly pics

We then grabbed a German Beer from a bar, certainly not one of the best beers I've tasted.....

We then had a last look around before making our way to Knightsbridge for a look in Harrods.......

We walked over to Harrods for a look around, felt out of place in there I can tell you, Can't believe a plastic Harrods Bag is £18!!!

We had a look around the food Hall first............

Richard brushing up on his cooking skills

£15 for coffee,eh no thanks lol

We then left and went to get a second bike out, I got mine but Richards card was being refused. So a call to TFL was made and Richard was told his first bike was still out on a journey and was still clocking up a bill as it has gone over the free half hour rental!! After some arguing with a very unhelpful staff at TFL we had to walk back to Hyde Park. Thankfully his bike was still there was not secured!! But we had both seen it dock correctly, green light come on and it was secure before we left it. So secured we then tried to get another bike, again his card was refused and another call made , it still wasn't showing this bike being docked!! We took pictures and a video as proof. So as it stands Richard had to leave the bike there still clocking up a bill, which is as much as £50 for the day and potentially £300 for non return or over a day charge. Hopefully Richard will get a call soon and have his money reimbursed. This has totally destroyed any faith in using these poor quality bikes again and TFL should do more with customer services!!
We had no choice back to walk back to Westminster for a train journey home,after TFL had totally ruined what could have been a good day out in London!

A squirrel in Green Park

Another squirrel in St James park

---------------------------------------------------UPDATE-----------------------------------------

Thankfully TFL have closed Richards Hire of the bike and no charges have been made!!! Still don't trust the system anymore and certainly don't intend to use them again! Good news though!