Prove Its Yours

[Brandane]

In the case under discussion, all the other party would say is: "You put those hidden markers there after you stole my bike five months ago."

Eh? So the thief would have needed to put YOUR markers in/on the bike after stealing it??

 

[swee'pea99]

Except that in this case you had 2 witnesses backing up one persons claim to the property, supported by an allegation that the bike had a unique identifying feature (the bent bars).

"That's mine that is. My mates say so too."

Tell it to the judge.

And yes, I would be frustrated by the scenario you describe. But I would, however unhappily, accept that there was actually nothing the police officer could legally do about it. Unless I could offer something that a 'reasonable' person would regard as proof. (Say, I made a point of putting a drip of yellow paint into the rear valve cap, and the rear valve cap was removed and - da-da! - yellow paint!) But just saying it's mine ("I had one of these and it was blue, just like this one.") is, I'd suggest, legally pretty much worthless.

 

[DRHysted]

I've taken photos of the frame numbers of all my bikes on the day of purchase, which is stored on my phone. I have registered them on immobolise. They are all non-standard & 3 out of 4 came from the same bike shop (which do know me).
I'd hope these would be sufficient.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

But I have photos going back more than 5 months on the Internet .... So it can't be your bike can it?

Exactly. Evidence such as photos going back months or years could easily be put onto a low-capacity, cheap micro-SD card, which could be suitably waterproofed and then concealed in various places.

 

[vickster]

This thread has reminded me that I need to get all my bikes marked by the police. They are all pretty unique in terms of spec and I'd be able to get original receipts for 3 of 4. Best to make a note of the serial numbers while I wait for plod to do their thing again. They have around 6 sessions around the borough a month which is pretty good

 

[siadwell]

Immobilse is the national project endorsed by ACPO, now the Council of Chief Scrambled Egg Wearers. While one is always wise to be circumspect, it has been examined and studied by ACPO before gaining their approval as the one the 43 UK forces are supposed to endorse, so you're as safe as you can reasonably expect to be.

Well the scrambled egg wearers or someone didn't do their job properly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30686697.

 

[Brandane]

This thread has reminded me that I need to get all my bikes marked by the police. They are all pretty unique in terms of spec and I'd be able to get original receipts for 3 of 4. Best to make a note of the serial numbers while I wait for plod to do their thing again. They have around 6 sessions around the borough a month which is pretty good

I hope they have moved on from the low tech days of using a hammer and punch to mark your post code on the frame . Personally I would use something like smartwater (or even datatag for an expensive bike) to mark them.

 

[Pale Rider]

Eh? So the thief would have needed to put YOUR markers in/on the bike after stealing it??

My point is that if a thief has stolen an unmarked bike he could then put his markers on it.

In the case under discussion, the cyclist/person accused of theft is trying to prove the bike is his.

The markers don't do that because he has had the bike in his possession for months, so could have marked it after he stole it.

Put another way, someone accuses me of stealing my Cannondale while I am out riding it.

"It's marked," I say.

"Big deal," says the accuser. "You stole it from me months ago so have had plenty of time to mark it."

 

[summerdays]

I hope they have moved on from the low tech days of using a hammer and punch to mark your post code on the frame . Personally I would use something like smartwater (or even datatag for an expensive bike) to mark them.

That's what I've got well not sure how the bike shop did it, but they put on their postcode rather than mine so if I moved it wouldn't matter.

 

[Sara_H]

Isn't the sensible answer to keep a photo of yourself with your bike and a photo of the frame number permanently in your phones photo album? And print paper copies and hide them somewhere accessible in your bike frame?

 

[Pale Rider]

That's what I've got well not sure how the bike shop did it, but they put on their postcode rather than mine so if I moved it wouldn't matter.

Similar with the card in the seat tube of my Cannondale.

It's the bike shop's business card with my mobile number on it.

 

[summerdays]

Exactly. Evidence such as photos going back months or years could easily be put onto a low-capacity, cheap micro-SD card, which could be suitably waterproofed and then concealed in various places.

Internet is easy to get to though, and I just need one photo predating the claimed date it was stolen from my acusor!

 

[summerdays]

Isn't the sensible answer to keep a photo of yourself with your bike and a photo of the frame number permanently in your phones photo album? And print paper copies and hide them somewhere accessible in your bike frame?

Well I have photos of me on rides with friends going back a few years too on Facebook.

 

[vickster]

I hope they have moved on from the low tech days of using a hammer and punch to mark your post code on the frame . Personally I would use something like smartwater (or even datatag for an expensive bike) to mark them.

They use some sort of unremovable blue paint stuff and stencil

 

[CopperCyclist]

I could direct them here to the "new bike" thread!

Seriously though, I (and most) probably won't need to prove it's your bike to stop it being seized. I'm aware of the thread that spawned this.

The power of the police to seize suspected stolen property is within Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, to prevent it being disposed of, sold, etc.

The option exists for us to allow the current holder to keep it, with a legal requirement that they cannot sell it, dispose of it, give it away etc. They can be given a formal notice under Section 66 of PACE. In the referenced thread, this would have been my preferred option.

This only falls down when you don't carry any ID so that we can confirm who you are and where you live. In that scenario, we can't in good faith let you take away something we believe is stolen, giving you the benefit of the doubt with no recourse to find you again should you not deserve it.

My solution would therefore be not to overly worry about proving ownership of the bike, but carry ID to prove who you are and where you live (most of us do anyway) and hopefully the sensible course of action will take place.

Unless you happen to have a criminal record for theft / handling in which case... Sorry.