Bike seized, investigation pending! Looks like the pillock removed my purple pedals for the purpose of the Gumtree photo, but put them back on, which isn't at all suspicious. 😉
Woohoo! This thread needs celebratory picturing!
Fingers crossed for a result then. Well done on persevering!
HA HA!! Excellent result!!
Well done on a bit of perseverance!
*steps back from pitchfork*
*removes Avengers stylee leather outfit*
Nice one mrs_T
Looks like the pillock removed my purple pedals for the purpose of the Gumtree photo, but put them back on, which isn't at all suspicious.
Oh dear. 😆
Hell hath no fury, gentlemen, hell hath no fury...
And also massive thanks for the kind words, advice and offers of help!
Great news on the bike! they shift these round the country quick enough to sell on, would be gutted if I lost one of mine. Hope never have to test the insurance.
Good result 🙂
Great result 🙂
so what happens to the Insurance replacement one that's coming next week now then ?
n + 1 ? 🙂
It's owned by the insurance company now, so it's up to them!
Glad its sorted.
Really does hint of it all being very organised crime if bikes are getting from down south to the Midlands.
I hope they dont just get this bloke, but look at the whole supply chain and who his pimp is 😈
Edit: Does that now mean no insurance replacement bike 😆
Result! Unfortunately that'll only be 3 hours community service for him. 🙁
molgrips - MemberYou're refuting stats based on personal experience? I call bullshit on *that*.
no I was refuting stats, with more stats- if you actually read the link, then adding my own anecdotal fleshing out
anyway very pleases the bike has been recovered !
You did better than my mate who had his Canyon Strive pinched and a year later I spotted it pop up on ebay. Friend called Police who made excuses about areas with now being 60 miles away andhow it would be hard to prove theft and did nowt. Very disappointing.
This thread has been a roller coaster but so pleased for the OP and her tenacity. I hope the prick gets nailed for it! I've only had one bike stolen but had the misfortune of watching it happen right in front of me.. bike was never seen again. Not a pleasant experience. hope the OP keeps us posted on the outcome(s)
Congratulations on the recovery, excellent result.
Multiple calls which routed nowhere before disconnecting is not due to cutbacks its due to rubbish inefficient telephony. In my experience Old Bill have always been rubbish, long before their purse strings were tightened.
Mrs Toast - MemberBike seized, investigation pending!
enfht - MemberCongratulations on the recovery, excellent result.
In my experience Old Bill have always been rubbish
🙄
Alles klar
Trying twenty times before someone actually helps isn't rubbish then Ernie, you're right.
I had my van full of tools stolen in Ealing.
2 scroutes were caught trying to board a ferry at Dover in said van complete with false plates minus most of my tools.
Some one spotted the reg on the tax disc did not match the false plates, did a check on the reg on disc which showed as stolen.
When I picked up my almost empty van from Dover I asked the DCI I was dealing with what would happen to the two scrotes And I was told they had let them go.
He said he was Dover port police that was seperate to Dover police and as the van was stolen in Ealing it was the mets job to investigate and when he rang his appropriate colleague in the met to say he had two prisoners in custody for them to collect he was told they would not be sending anyone to pick them up and just to let them go free.
I was down thousands but that did not matter.
So glad you got it back! The first time my Lapierre was stolen, and returned, they'd 'pimped' it with shit peddles, grips with flanges (argh!!!) and broken the maxle. Thieves are arseholes.
Thieves are arseholes.
This.
Maybe we as a nation should tattoo gay porn onto them and parachute them into ISIS controlled territory until we run short of them.
Great result Mrs Toast and well done for persevering.
Cases like this certainly show that a bit of social networking can help out. I would hope Cyber-Vigilatism catches on.
Excellent news Mrs Toast, am really pleased to read that you have your bike back.
I'm normally one of these bleeding heart liberals who believes in the value of rehabilitation, but if someone nicked my bike I'd want to see them clapped in irons and breaking rocks for the next decade or so.
PJM1974 - Member
Excellent news Mrs Toast, am really pleased to read that you have your bike back.I'm normally one of these bleeding heart liberals who believes in the value of rehabilitation, but if someone nicked my bike I'd want to see them clapped in irons and breaking rocks for the next decade or so.
I'd be using them to break the rocks.....
Why not twitter/Facebook link this thread to the relevant Force or print and post to the Chief Constable of whatever they are called now.
Good work btw and I hope there's s prosecution though I doubt it!
*removes Avengers stylee leather outfit*
Go on, keep it on. You know you want to....
great news Mrs Toast.
as for the bike it does now technically belong to the insurer but they wont have possession of it yet. you can therefore contact them and offer them a salvage fee and they will give you the bike back( effectively buying the bike back from them) they should be happy to do this as it saves them the hassle of trying to dispose of it themselves.
as for how good the police are in matters of bike theft...that does vary from force to force.
when my first bike got stolen they didnt give two sh**s.
when my second one got taken it was the same again. then i managed to track it down and asked them to try and recover it, mainly so they could try and nail the scrote who took it in the first place. i got them the address of the seller and they executed the warrant and recovered the bike...then they demonstrated their complete incompetence and i completely lost my faith in law enforcement!
The whole low-level crime situation's a mess, firstly you're lucky if the police do anything about it (without you doing most of their work for them first) and secondly even if they do intervene chances are the scrote will go free. That said I don't know what the solution is, can't really expect the police with it's current funding level to spend hours on each low-level crime reported and can't give the scrotes a proper punishment as it either violates their human rights or would mean they'd need a gazillion more prisons.
No update from the police yet, but Aviva have but my claim on hold as they'd apparently not processed it yet, despite having taken my excess payment and Wheelies giving me a date for delivery. I kind of understand it as my bike has been recovered (mostly thanks to me), but I'm now in the situation that my bike is 90 miles away and being held as evidence, I have no bike to commute to work on (unless I use my full susser, which I can't do as they were also supposed to be sending me a replacement lock!), and I'm £150 down.
Still, worth the hassle if the scrote gets a criminal record and thinks twice about stealing/flogging stolen goods.
Git.
So it's been two weeks since the police recovered my bike, and I still have no idea what's going on. Has it taken any damage? When am I getting it back? What action is being taken against the scumbag who was selling it, knowing that it was stolen? Was he the one who stole it? Despite repeated requests for a progress report, I've got nothing.
Judging by the variety of beach-based photos aforementioned scumbag is updating his FB profile with, he appears to be on holiday. How lovely for him. In the meantime, I'm left with no idea if the police are going to prosecute, no commuting bike, and the knowledge that if I'd made no effort to find my bike, or kept my mouth shut (or at least not bothered to tell Aviva until I had more info from the police), I could have been riding around on a brand new insurance replacement for the past week.
I was so pleased that I'd solved crime, but it seems like it was actually the wrong thing to do. :/
Hoof him in the spuds?
Can you not claim for expenses from the insurers? Tell them you either want a new bike, or a hire bike untill yours turns up? Make it enough of a hastle/cost that they just give you the new bike?
An update!
Today the police are going to talk to the guy (scrote number 2) who the guy selling my stolen bike (scrote number 1) claims he bought it off!
South Yorkshire police say they can't proceed against scrote number 1 for selling stolen goods as he claimed he bought it in good faith and paid a fair price for it. Given that he was selling it for £250, and had replaced my purple pedals for the Gumtree photo but when seized by the police they were back on... well, excuse me for doubting his innocence. The police won't do anything until Warwickshire have followed up on scrote number 2. Which they're finally doing today.
Scrote number 2 happens to be scrote number 1's brother. It's a good job they've not had nearly two months to concoct a story... Oh, wait.
My bike is still in Sheffield, being held by the police. Warwickshire police keep on saying that they'll contact South Yorkshire police so I can go and get it, but then don't.
I feel for you Mrs Toast, things don't change do they, my initial contact with the police about my stolen bike lead me to conclude that dealing with it myself was a far better option - no hard man tactics, just knew it was worth paying the "fence" £50 to get my £500 uninsured bike back and that's going back some 20+ years ago.
Update time!
The good news is that I finally have my bike back - today I did the near 200 mile round trip to pick it up from Attercliffe police station. I confess, my heart did drop as I approach the entrance, saw it was dark and had a sign proclaiming that there was no Enquiry Desk any more. Fortunately there was a phone for emergencies/deliveries/people with appointments, and I was eventually reunited with my bike.
It was a bit dirtier, missing its Lizard Skin chainstay protector and Garmin bracket, had a flattish rear tyre and had a couple of new scratches, but was otherwise unscathed. Huzzah!
The bad news is that I've just sent off an official complaint about Warwickshire police. As many people on here predicted, the police were both apathetic and useless in investigating the case, despite the fact that I'd given them a pretty good head start by giving them the person who was attempting to sell my stolen bike. Here's a fun ranty list!
1) The police eventually spoke to scrote number 2 over two months after his brother (scrote number 1) had given his name as the source of the bike. He told the police that he'd bought the bike off a guy selling it on Gumtree for a £100, but met him at the side of the road, but can't remember who he was, or which number was his, or when it happened. Apparently this is OK, despite the fact that I bought the bike off here over two years ago, and still have the seller's name, email address and phone number.
2) According to the police, it would cost 'too much time and money' to look through his phone log. My bike was stolen on the afternoon of June 3rd, and put on sale the afternoon June 8th. That's five, six days of calls at most - that's assuming the possibility that it was nicked, put on Gumtree and sold to scrote number two on June 3rd.
3) I've checked the bike adverts on Gumtree via findthatbike.co.uk. If you search for Scott Scale Contessa, there's no Gumtree adverts nationwide for my particular model for the relevant dates. If you search Scott Scale, the only one of my particular model on sale in the relevant time period is the advert from scrote number one. If you search all bike makes, for £100, in Warwickshire, there's no advert for my bike. Where is it?
4) Scrote number two told the police that he does a lot of buying bikes to 'do up', and apparently he made 'improvements' to my bike. This was a lie, unless you count 'removal of the Lizardskin chainstay protector', 'slightly flat rear tyre', 'removal of the Garmin Edge bracket', 'removal of dust caps; and 'scratch to the top tube' as improvements.
5) Scrote number two claims he buys a lot of bikes and sells them on, scrote number one definitely does for a profit. But they don't keep any records of where the bikes come from, and the police are OK with this. I don't know if HMRC would be, so I've emailed them, just to be on the safe side. 😉
6) I've had to battle to get any information out of either police force, with both of them saying the other should be keeping me updated, accusing each other of not responding, saying that they'll contact me but them not doing so. Literally, the only time I had an officer contact me out of the blue was a PCSO asking me if I'd sorted out the CCTV footage from the office, and without it they couldn't really do anything (I'd told them that the CCTV cameras didn't work the day the bike was stolen, and this was two weeks after it had been recovered - she didn't know).
7) I've been without a commuting bike for two months, waiting for the two police forces to get their act together and agree that I can actually get my bike (South Yorkshire had to get the OK from Warwickshire, which took over a month, then I had to talk to the officer that booked in the bike directly - the Warwickshire officer claimed that he wasn't responding to her emails, 101 SY said he'd call me... when he eventually did, he said he hadn't had any emails, and hadn't been told about my numerous calls. :/).
8) As I didn't have my commuting bike, I was going to work on my scooter. That was also nicked from outside my office. YAY.
So yeah. Not best pleased. I understand that there's been cuts and everything, but seriously... I handed them the person selling my stolen bike, someone who sells a lot of bikes, and they can't do anything? Really?
On the plus side, I did get to meet the lovely ton whilst on a northern diversion (as I was up there, I relieved him of an Enduro* for my husband!)
*Not a euphemism
Good work in getting your bike back. Sounds like it's been a nightmare from start to finish. Not very impressed with the efforts made by the police here at all! 🙁
I did get to meet the lovely ton whilst on a northern diversion (as I was up there, I relieved him
Everyone loves a happy ending!
(Sorry, had to!)
I know it's small fry to the police but a good job for a small nationwide, deputised team to track down high end jobs. Or maybe just a good idea in my stupid mind.
The thing is, I got my bike back, and even if I hadn't, I was insured. What bothers me are the poor sods who don't get their bikes back, and aren't covered by insurance. The guy was selling another mountain bike just two weeks ago (a GT Avalanche), and he'd put the same crappy pedals on it that he'd put on my bike!
