Stolen bike on gumtree

mintedox

Howdo

my friends bike was pinched last week and it is now on gumtree. The ad says it is sold and there are no contact details.
Will gumtree have this guys details or the original advert saved? I think we only just misssed it before the details were removed, annoying!
Has this happened to anyone else?

cheers

supersonic

Do you have the link? Get onto the police ASAP.

ricardo_smooth

you need to be sure it was the stolen bike too. Was is a custom/distinct build?

mintedox

It is the bike, there are a couple of things on it that show this. The police basically have said they will pass the info on to the copper who deals with this sort of thing and thats it. My mate is going to get into touch wirh gumtree tomorrow.

I found a dead link on google that had the same description as gumtree but it was for swapz.co.uk. It seems the advert was deleted yesterday. I noticed that you have toregister on that site so it may be worth checking that out.

mintedox

http://m.gumtree.com/specialized-camber ... =100808791

that's the one.

TheJohnClimber

mintedox wrote:

http://m.gumtree.com/specialized-camber-fsr-2011-full-suspension-mountain-bike-sold-sold/v?adId=100808791

that's the one.

Contact the Police ASAP before the link goes down.

diy

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... =firefox-a

Google cache - still doesn't

DodgeT

If you look on this link http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/specialized-camber-comp-fsr-2011-full-suspension-mountain-bike/100808791 show's you location, assuming the registered location is correct?

EyesintheSky

How do you know that's your mates bike? You need to be able to prove hands down to the rozzers that it's yours, when mine was stolen I showed the police pictures I had taken of my serial number and distinctive scratches as well as all it's upgrades, there was no doubt it was mine. When the cops went round they didn't even need to check the serial numbers!

Blackford Avenue appears to be the address, see if the police have anything on a guy from that area?

mintedox

Cheers for that i'll pass it on.

The rim are different if you look closely, the rear is off my merida matts. I lent it to him while his is in for repair. Maybe a forum post will appear somewhere soon when the new owner is having trouble with an 8 speed casette

Briggo

There needs to be a centralised government database like the DVLA with bike serial numbers and its mandatory by the bike shop to register the details upon new sale.

Quick text message to DVLA registered site that can access the info and boom job done, it tells you its either stolen/financed, just like a car check.

At least if anything it'll limit the parts that can be sold i.e the expensive frame, of course parts can be sold on but thats more hassle, a quick sale of a whole bike is so much better than holding on to lots of little stolen goods and selling them bit by bit. Obviously this'll incur extra fees at sale but in the long run it should hopefully save money on insurance premiums as bikes may be less attractive to steal.

Oh and I haven't worked out what happens when you sell the bike on legitimately...

kevsgsi

Briggo wrote:

There needs to be a centralised government database like the DVLA with bike serial numbers and its mandatory by the bike shop to register the details upon new sale.

Quick text message to DVLA registered site that can access the info and boom job done, it tells you its either stolen/financed, just like a car check.

At least if anything it'll limit the parts that can be sold i.e the expensive frame, of course parts can be sold on but thats more hassle, a quick sale of a whole bike is so much better than holding on to lots of little stolen goods and selling them bit by bit. Obviously this'll incur extra fees at sale but in the long run it should hopefully save money on insurance premiums as bikes may be less attractive to steal.

Oh and I haven't worked out what happens when you sell the bike on legitimately...

Pretty good idea to be honest, when you think a lot of these bikes cost more than some older cars! It could work exactly the same as cars, some sort of bike logbook so new owner has to send off a slip to change owner and address

diy

Better to get someone other than the DVLA to manage it though.

kevsgsi

Too true!

mikeysickalrigh

That would work in theory but what about all old bikes? And Tesco's finest £39.99? They wouldn't be bothered!

Something like a £10 fee for anyone to register there bike if they want? Done by serial number

bobs bikes

all our bikes and the ones we sell are registered on immobilise.com
its basically the police nmpr piggyback. (nmpr - national missing property register)
i suggest you all do it. its free and you can update details if you do sell the bike on.

diy

Having read their terms and conditions - I wouldn't trust them with this data. I would advise keeping your own records and uploaded to that website if your bike gets nicked after the event.

I certainly would not want my LBS uploading my details to this site and I'd be minded to consider a claim for damages if they did it without my permission.

bobs bikes

we do not upload any personal details about the customer. we register the bikes to ourselves and keep offline documents (as in reciepts) to match bike to customer.
we have had 6 bikes returned by the police after they have been found reported stolen. im happy to use the system.

diy

That sounds like the best way to do it tbh. And avoids this system being an inventory of tasty kit, by location ready for some outsourced dba in india to sell to some toe rag. It also avoids you having data protection issues.

Don't get me wrong I think lost/stolen property registers are great, but a national inventory of valuables not so great.

If you do keep the data in electronic form, I would store it on a machine with an encrypted hard drive at the very least.

Anonymous

immobilise.com is in partnership with and approved/recommended by the police. Though they are a business and have an interest in selling stuff.

Doesn't stop pikey thefts being sold to a mate down the pub etc. It's the innocent ones who get stung as they end up with a bike they later try to sell and then find out it was nicked in the first place, and they lose the bike. Making it a requirement to do checks and register is just costly to the taxpayer (or introduces a bike tax!) to get the laws and policing in place.

diy

Plod are the last people I'd trust to understand the concept of data privacy, they see nothing wrong with storing the DNA of innocent members of the public, just in case they can link them to future crimes.

There is nothing wrong with the law as it stands. The "buyer" of a stolen bike does not automatically lose, he can sue the person who "sold" it to him for his loss, for breach of contract. That person can sue the person he bought it from and so on until someone bought a bike "no questions asked" and loses. I appreciate its not that simple in reality, but someone who buys a stolen bike does have recourse. Where they can come unstuck is if they paid a very low price for the bike. This is where they could get arrested for receiving stolen goods.

The only potentially unfair part is the innocent buyer can face a claim from damages from the person who lost his bike, for the loss of use. If the seller was some penniless scum then that would leave a gap. I personally think that the loser should not have a claim for damages against an innocent buyer.