[Closed] Found my bike in cash converters - what happens next?

have you recieved a new via the insurance company since?

wasn't insured

Legally belongs to you (or insurers, but not in your case).
How to go about getting it back and catching the theif is another matter.
Chances are after all this time the person who brought it in thought he had acquired it legit, theif would probably have sold it yonks ago, so chances of prosecuting the 'seller' or whatever you call them for handling stolen property is remote.

buy it for a tenner?

do you have any evidence that it is your bike, handling stolen goods etc, i don't think ignorance gets you very far. That includes shops buying dodgy bikes.

I know ignorance is no defense but can you really see the police trying to prosectue on a bike stolen 5 years ago?
Most likely outcome is the return of the bike and a warning for the shop to be a bit more careful.
Police crime report should have your frame number (assuming you had it and gave it to them), they will be kept longer than this, indefinately I beleive?

wasn't after prosecution etc, just me bike back really. Reason I mentioned logging the crime was I'm struggling for receipts and paperwork but if there is a police record of a kona with XYZ spec they can't dispute it's not mine. Scarily the bike is exactly as it was last time I saw it, apart from one of the tyres has been swapped - fork, wheels, cranks, pedals, brakes, even the seat are all the same.

I'm writing a list of the spec (down to shimano M7XX part numbers) and am going to phone the manager on monday and can hopefully convince him I'm not a chancer

Expensive? I'd be tempted to just buy it. I don't think you'll get any joy from the manager - they are used to dealing with sly buggers and are consequently suspicious and hard-nosed.

its a crims world

when my stolen camera turned up on ebay the police did nothing despite having the receipt , serial number etc

id just buy it and move on

If it's yours and you can prove it just go in and walk out with it,it's yours.

Contact police, give all details including marks, dents, serial numbers and get the crime report number. Inform the store and give them the reference number and they will not be allowed to sell the bike. It will be returned to you if you have sufficient evidence to prove it is yours. The police will get the details of the person who sold the bike as cash convertors take photos of persons that sell items to them and also obtain ID. He may be innocent but could track who he got it from etc etc.

Happens a lot with cash convertors with all types of property... I am a police officer based in Milton Keynes, give me an email at downs523@hotmail.co.uk if you need any more info or advice.

Good luck

downs523

Just what I wanted to hear, mate. Thanks a lot.

your advice should be a sticky downs523, salute 💡

and then when you get it back, bang it straight on retrobike.

Old bill here too, I thoroughly endorse Downs post, CC have this all the time, their processes are designed to deal this sort of occurrance. Yes the police will still have your crime report in their archives.

Good luck

MUTDS

First supprt for the officers posting on here

If a knicked camera turns up on ebay and the Police do nothing I think thats very poor. Is that a case of not getting the information to the right place

If all else fails say it was knicked in the riots.

PS hope you get your bike back. Stick to your guns. Cash converters have broken the law. If they help you then there is no need to use it. But if they don't thats why that law exhisits

let us know if you get it back 🙂

ampthill - Member

Cash converters have broken the law.

Where? They have bought it in good faith and asked for ID and photographed the person selling it. Where is the criminality?

TJ starting arguments again....no surely not lol, oh he's on the internet so doesn't need to run away like a girl 🙂

nmdbase - well where did cash converters break the law?

They should do something if stolen goods are on eBay I can tell you about a job I did a while ago, a female called in saying her sons bike had been stolen then she had seen it on eBay... She called the seller after speaking to the police and arranged to buy it by getting her boyfriend to go pick it up...

When this happened I was on the force proactive team (bit of plain clothes policing) and we were asked to help. I pretended to be the woman's boyfriend so went to the guys house to "buy" the bike 😉 played him along for a while, checked it was defiantly her bike etc etc then we all jumped him! Was great seeing the look on his face when about 6 of my other collegues stormed in the house .

Obviously I cannot go into any further details but the woman got the bike back and the male was charged with several offences happy days hey!

nmdbase - Member

TJ starting arguments again....no surely not lol, oh he's on the internet so doesn't need to run away like a girl

Course, he is 100% right, and rather than starting an argument he's correcting misinformation. But don't let that stop you 😉

I love the way the police use male and female where anyone else would use man/woman.

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handling_stolen_goods ]link[/url]TJ

it is illegal to sell stolen goods or help sell stolen goods

really surprised you didn't know that

I'm not sugesting cash converters have acted in bad faith at this point. But they are breaking the law

So if they are unhelpful they should be reminded that they are breaking the law

[i]A person handles stolen goods if (otherwise than in the course of the stealing) [b]knowing or believing them to be stolen goods[/b] he dishonestly receives the goods, or dishonestly undertakes or assists in their retention, removal, disposal or realisation by or for the benefit of another person, or if he arranges to do so. S22 Theft Act 1968[/i]

The act of selling stolen goods is therefore not always a crime.

And just for you TJ, it's Reset where you live, which is

[i]It is an offence for any person, with intent to deprive the owner, to receive and keep property knowing that it has been appropriated by theft, robbery, embezzlement or fraud[/i]

Same [i]mens rea[/i] applies.

ampthill, your own wiki link proves you wrong, that's[i] formidable[/i].

Surely the criminality comes in when you go in and say "Thats my bike your selling"

Presumably after you out walk if the bike is still on sale out they are knowingly selling stolen goods

I stand corrected on "have broken the law"

The bike is still of course the property of the OP

ampthill - always check before you paste eh 😉

amphill - from your link

A person handles stolen goods if (otherwise than in the course of stealing), [b]knowing or believing them to be stolen goods[/b] he dishonestly receives the goods, or dishonestly undertakes or assists in their retention, removal, disposal or realisation by or for the benefit of another person, or if he arranges to do so.[1]

As cash converters ask for ID and take a photo of the seller they are taking reasonable steps to prevent them buying stolen goods and once alerted the goods are stolen they must not sell them

with my camera the copper i spoke to said i needed to get the seller to send me a pic of the serial number, which i didnt do as it would surely tip him off and i really wanted it back!
he said theyd had too many instances of seizing ebayed stolen bikes to find out they werent the actual bike.
after i won the auction he was still just as unhelpful saying the guy would just say he bought it in good faith from a car boot sale (which he did say when i emailed him)
the camera went missing from the delivery suite when we were in theatre as my son was born
using some recovery software found pics of this guys own child who was same age as ours so pretty sure he nicked it too
(rant over)

thered

My dinner was ready.

Not feeling to down as I didn't think anyone would take action against cash converters before they new it was knicked

Kimbers bummer about your camera. I think the Police could have at least arranged for the recovery of your goods, even if no prosecution was possible

I certainly think that we all need to stand firm on . If some one buys stolen goods in good faith its them that loose out not the original owner.

If all else fails say it was knicked in the riots.

you argue that cc are breaking the law, then suggest it (or fraud) as a possible course of action? good work!

Del

are you seriuos!!!

you actually thought I was sugesting that some one could claim that a bike stolen 5 years could be passed off as being stolen in a set of riots this year. Note he said he was relying on the Police to provide evidence of the theft.

i'll explain.

It was an ironic comment on the fact that loads of things like handling stolen goods that are oftem not pursued by the Police resulted in Jail terms during the riots. This was pointed out to me by a serving officer.