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The bike that was stolen twice

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We’ve featured many stories on these blogs about the recovery of a stolen bike with the police being closely involved but then not every Constabulary seems to be up with the law.

A man in Maidenhead was stopped by the local police force from reclaiming his stolen bike after finding it. A mistake that was compounded by the police being unable to identify the thief when the bike was removed thus allowing the bike to be stolen a second time by the same thief or by other persons.

Positive ID

Simon Turner had his £55 bike stolen from his shed at the beginning of August but managed to spot the bike chained up in the town later in the month.

Simon managed to locate a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) near where the bike was parked and hoped that she would aid him in the recovery of his stolen bike. He told the PCSO of specific hidden modifications he had made to the bike. The officer identified this as being the case and agreed that the bike was indeed Simon’s.

However the PCSO would not allow Simon to remove the bike by breaking the lock as breaking the lock would be damaging the thief’s property.

Thief could sue

Simon told the Maidenhead Advertiser newspaper that the PCSO had informed him that if he broke the lock, the owner of the lock could sue him for damage. The PCSO’s advice to Simon was for him to leave the bike where it was and the police would monitor who came to collect it using CCTV and recover the bike from any subsequent arrest.

However, the police botched that operation and told Simon that the bike had been removed and taken away by two people who could not be identified.

Incorrect advice

A Thames Valley Police spokesman told the Maidenhead Advertiser that incorrect advice had been given to the PCSO by another police officer via radio and there were other steps that could have been taken at the time to help Simon recover his bike.

“We’d like to apologise for this mistake and reassure the gentleman concerned that we are doing all we can to track down the person or people who stole his bicycle.”

Police can seize goods if they have reasonable grounds for believing they have been obtained illegally, or are evidence in relation to an offence.

See also

Soot levels higher for cyclists

Traffic wardens on bicycle patrol

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