Muddled police broke into an MCN reader’s garage, took his motorcycle, then contacted him to say they’d recovered it from thieves.
Steve Hamer, 35, from Ystrad Mynach in Wales, was surprised when an officer told him his beloved Ducati 750 Supersport had been recovered in a raid.
Until that moment he’d had no idea it had been stolen. But he was even more surprised when police called back a few days later to admit the raid had been on his own lock-up, two miles from his home.
It meant the huge holes in the lock-up door, which Hamer assumed were the work of the "thieves", had actually been put there by officers.
Hamer, a training manager for a supermarket, explained: "On December 22 I got a note through my door asking me to ring an officer because my bike had been stolen.
"When I did, I was told: ‘But the good news is we raided a property this morning and recovered it.’
"The officer asked me when I’d seen it last and I gave him the address of my lock-up but the penny apparently didn’t drop.
"I spent Christmas believing my bike had been stolen and wondering what state it was in but not able to collect it because of inches of snow and my busy work schedule over the period.
"Then I got another phone call and an officer said: ‘It looks like we’ve made a mistake. We’ve just been through the logs and found that it was your lock-up we took the bike from."
According to Hamer, the only explanation Gwent Police have offered for the cock-up is that they were acting on an "anonymous tip-off" the garage contained stolen property.
"What worries me is that they went ahead and raided it apparently without investigating first," he said.
A force spokesman said: "Gwent Police was acting on intelligence gathered when executing the warrant and has since made every effort to minimise disruption to the owner whilst ensuring the security and safe return of the vehicle."
RustyKnight In: Newton Aycliffe
Posts: 2462
Karma:
If the lock up was 2 miles away the Police would have no link between the rider and the lock up. It was obviously the bikes reg plate that gave them his home address once they'd raided the place.
*"What worries me is that they went ahead and raided it apparently without investigating first,"*
Err would it be a raid if they investigated first? doh!
Police took my from when it was stolen, was recovered 15mins later from the next street. They then took it 10-20miles away to Bolton and said we'll contact you, left me in Salford in one of the roughest area's stranded without a vechile and just drove off. Then I phoned them asking what the hells going on and they said "You have to pay £210 to get your bike back" AND travel all the way to Bolton to pick it up and find a van to put it in because it was hotwired. They wouldn't even refund my costs for their mistakes they took it away for "fingerprints".
Really do hate the police no matter what people say...
RustyKnight In: Newton Aycliffe
Posts: 2462
Karma:
I was once dumped off at my stolen/recovered car in Chapeltown, Leeds at 11 pm before mobile fones were popular. They told me it was driveable and I thanked them and waved them off, only to find the front wheels were buckled, the drivers window was out and the exhaust was hanging off. It was a choice between drivng it home as it was and risking getting pulled, hoping they'd understand what was happening or being the only white man in Chapeltown late at night.
Needless to say the car shook me to the bones, everyone could hear it from half a mile away but i'm alive to tell the tale so obviously the right decision!
I'd still ring them if someone knocked me off the bike and cleared off though
I had my first car stolen back in the 70's, the police couldnt find it but I did a week later parked in a side street a few hundred yards from where it was stolen, the kind thief left me a full tank of fuel and no damage :)
A few years later I had my kawa Z200 that I used to commute to work on stolen from outside my flat in Bath despite the fact that it was chained to the railings, I found that 2 weeks later hidden behind a garage in the street behind where I lived, unfortunately the electrics had been ripped out and it was a write off.
The police didnt even come and check them over or even want to take prints.
so the police get a tip off that some bloke is turning up on some flashy bike and leaving it in a lock up. No he's not local officer, don't think he from around here. So plod turn up and see shiny red ducati through hole in door. Try to find out who owns lock up - no joy. So they get a warrant and burst the doors.Inside they finds said shiny duke and from the reg they see the owner is not local to the lock up. So they remove bike for forensic checks while contacting owner. Realise the fook up and look like fools
option B. so the police get a tip off about some bloke on a flashy bike...lock up...not local. They do nothing. Local resident sez ' I told the police about that bike and they've done bugger all'
Personally I'd be quite impressed they took the time to check the tip off in the first place. And while they're checking can you ask them to keep an eye out for my black XS1100 yam? It was nicked in Luton in 1984...love to have it back.
So how about this then ................... so the police get a tip off that some bloke is turning up on some flashy bike and leaving it in a lock up. No he's not local officer, don't think he from around here....... how about Police check who the lock up belongs to, council tax check, easily accessable via computer check.... position police car at said lock up then call owner and if rented call person who rents and ask them to come to lock up.......or is that just common sense..... or lets just spend as much time pissing around with search warrants and then "blow the bloody doors off" and mess people about with the obvious cost and heart ache that goes with it..... discuss!!!!!!
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