Hi all

Had a CR stolen from a garage where we use to live in Surrey about 8 years ago, it was a CR but came with a V5.
We got a phone call the week before last from Derbyshire police saying they had found it whilst searching someone’s place for something else but not many other details other than it is in pieces and something wrong with engine which is present but not in frame, I was so excited

We wanted to go pick it up that weekend but were told they hadn't sorted out releasing it yet. Waited another week and finally got a recorded letter Saturday from the recovery firm to contact them for collection. It said recovery charge was £150 which was expected and then £10 a day storage fee from the day after recovery, also expected. What was a shock was that the letter says the police found the bike on the 25th October which would mean if they have had it since the day after it has now run up two months’ worth of storage!!!!!!!!!!!

This is probably more than the bike would be worth working never mind busted in pieces and having to take a day’s leave to collect it. I need to ring the recovery firm tomorrow to check what the charges add up to but have a sinking feeling it is going to be in the £800 area.

Thinking the worse, is it likely I have a case to get the charges reduced as they never told us they even had the bike for two months and given the chance we would have driven the hundreds of miles to pick it up asap incurring no more than £200 in charges?

I was so excited they had found my bike but now I wish they never had as I feel robbed twice as well as let down by the police for the second time after we had another bike and loads of tools stolen more recently and after we found the scum who did it all the police gave him was £100 fine and suspended sentence, as well as keeping our tools for over 9 months and only getting around to releasing them when scum complained he wanted his stuff back

Thanks H

Talk about give with one hand an take away with the other!!

So was it stolen 8 years ago?
Were you insured for it at the time? If so then maybe the insurance might help? Or is that peeing in the wind?

Or if it was insured, did you get paid out for it?

If they wont reduce the costs, what actually happens to the bike if you dont collect it?
If they auction it you might get it back a lot cheaper than what they want. Doesnt make any sense.

Bit of a bummer aint it. Hope you sort it.

I've heard of this happening in the past. I'm sure there was an article about it on one of the consumer programmes.
As mentioned above, if you have already received an insurance payout, other than historical your financial interest in the bike is extinct.
If not, research the consumer programmes, I believe the police were on some sort of commission for any charges levied.
How and when did the police obtain your details?, that is when the clock should have started ticking.
I further believe this sort of scam also formed part of the basis of the recent enquiry into insurance practises.
Good Luck.
Mike

Thanks for the advice guys I will look into it.

The bike wasn't insured as it was just used as a moto-x bike, it just happened to come with a V5 which made me happier I wasn't buying a stolen bike in the first place. The V5 was in my name and we reported the theft when it happened so all our details would have been easily available.

I have rung the recover firm and it is as feared and now up to just shy of £700

I don't understand why it took them 2 months to contact us. The bike was found when they were searching a place for something else but the PC thought something was suspect about it and ran the frame number (which was intact ) and it came back as reported stolen so they must have known it was ours.

I have tried ringing the police to speak to someone about this but no-one at his CID unit is answering the phone. The second time I rung, the person on the switch board thought I should be trying to speak to the recovery department to dispute the charges but they aren't back till Thursday and the PC dealing with it is only in Wednesday boxing day.

Other half wants to go and get the bike Thursday and sort out the fees later but once paid I don't think we will get them back. Plus the plastics are in the property locker at a police station not with the bike so we need to try and sort getting them at the same time as the bike as it is in Derbysire and we are in Devon.

I can see this being dragged out for ages and it has taken some of the shine of christmas for sure

Just keep pushing ...............

Here is another sad example of Police work.

We purchased a nearly new child's quad bike for my son from a respectable house, 1 year later we sold it to a dealer as a part exchange for another bike, they sold it to a serving police person, who checked and found it was a stolen quad before he paid for it. The dealer lost out and the bke was returned by the Police to the original rightful owner.

The Police have NEVER contacted me about the stolen Quad or who I purchased it from even though the dealer gave them my details.

I have an idea, there should be a register where the public can check for any stolen items that have serial numbers, no need for a complicated register, just enter a serial number "of anything" and see if it comes up.

We now have the bike back, well what there is of it anyway.

Looks like the recovery firm were just trying their luck with the charging as once I got hold of the right department of the police they agreed it should only be £180. It was a long way to go from Devon to Derby but seeing as it would have cost us £200 not to pick it up and have them scrap it it was the best of some bad options.

We were warned it was in pieces with a rolling chassis and seperate engine but unfortunatly some pretty large bits are missing like the fuel tank etc and the wheel bearings are siezed so think it has been left out unloved for sometime. I would just sell it for spares but OH wants to try and get the bits and rebuild it

hpm wrote:We now have the bike back, well what there is of it anyway.

Looks like the recovery firm were just trying their luck with the charging as once I got hold of the right department of the police they agreed it should only be £180. It was a long way to go from Devon to Derby but seeing as it would have cost us £200 not to pick it up and have them scrap it it was the best of some bad options.

We were warned it was in pieces with a rolling chassis and seperate engine but unfortunatly some pretty large bits are missing like the fuel tank etc and the wheel bearings are siezed so think it has been left out unloved for sometime. I would just sell it for spares but OH wants to try and get the bits and rebuild it

Probably not a viable option, good money after bad and all that.
mike