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The beginning of history:
Over 1 year ago I found a bike in Poland that I was interested in, but the price was incredibly low (the new bike costs 4x as much as it was in the advertisement). These bikes are sold only in the UK and this price bothered me...
I went to google, "stolen bikes uk" on the site stolen-bikes.co.uk I found that someone lost this bike in 2016 (very specific equipment was easy to find).
The dates can be little bit different than original dates, but more or less the way it looked.
14/08/2017 I reported to the legal owner (in the UK) that I found his bike in Poland
20/08/2017 (about) bike disappears from OLX (something like ebay ) - someone bought it :O
1/08/2017 Legal owner from UK reported this (bike) to the police (in the UK).
5/10/2017 The bike was picked up by the police from the person who bought it. (the seller gives back the cash to the person who bought it)
(AFTER A YEAR!)
06/07/2018 Legal owner in the UK received a letter from the Polish prosecutor's office about discontinuing the proceedings.
(the decision to discontinue was made ON 29/12/2017!), but 3 months it was waiting in line for an expert translator, a [translation] written on a typewriter (sic!).
I immediately suggested to a UK Legal Bike Owner that I can help him organize everything in Poland and I can send him a bicycle to the UK.
09/07/2018 - My first call to the prosecutor's office:
They informed me about:
- you have to wait 14 days from the moment when the prosecutor's office receives confirmation that a Legal Owner from the UK got this letter (I thought it would go quickly silly me....)
- In the meantime, we (Me and Legal Owner) manage to write documents that entitle me to pick up the bike - PDF scans to the prosecutor's office
25/07/2018 - My next phone call to the prosecutor's office with the question of whether they received a delivery confirmation from UK Post Office.
- NO.
So I asked them - is it enough to write a document (by Legal Owner from UK) with the information that he has received a document from the prosecutor's office and send via email
- unfortunately, "we are in the XIX century"., so we need to have a Delivery Confirmation from the UK post office.
- at this moment, for the first time, I informed the Public Prosecutor's Office that the Post Office in the UK does not have the Delivery Confirmation option
30/07/2018 - My next phone call to the prosecutor's office with suggestion that Legal Owner from the UK may write a physical letter and send it to the prosecutor's office with information that he recieved Documents from the prosecutor's office.
- NO, there must be a Delivery Confirmation - ****!
- I inform the prosecutor for the second time that Post Office in the UK does not have such a thing as confirmation of delivery
From 20/08/2018 to 01/11/2018, I called about 30 times to the prosecutor's office....
- The prosecutor's office makes complaints about the Polish Post Office due to the lack of confirmation of delivery (the Polish Post Office has 2 months to consider complaint : D)
- after 2 months, Polish Post Office responds to a complaint that they can not provide a Delivery Confirmation because mail in the UK does not have such an option
- The prosecutor is very surprised about this information :D... (I informed the prosecutor about this "delivery confirmation" 5 times)
So I asked again - maybe a physical letter from the Legal Owner with information that he is informed, he received Documents from the prosecutor's office... ?
- The prosecutor accepts the confirmation from the owner via e-mail :Dsent from Gmail :D.
05/11/2018 I am calling the prosecutor's office for the 40th time,>
- here, basically, I almost shout at the prosecutor via my phone (I informed you so many times that the Post Office in the UK has no Delivery Confirmation)
- At this point I got informed that the Legal Owner has already confirmed (via email....), the prosecutor's office is now sending a letter to the person from which bike was picked up by police (from the guy who bought it from the "black marketeer"), informing him (guy who bought bike) that the case was discontinued and whether he claims the right to bike :DD and I need to wait 7 days from delivery to this person (previous owner).
22/11/2018 Bike picked up from the prosecutor's office! SUCCESS!!!
A few facts
Always report stolen bikes on sites like stolen-bikes.uk! - Maybe there will be another stubborn guy like me who will do anything to help 🙂
Finally, I bought mentioned bike from the Legal Owner 🙂
In the meantime, I found another stolen bike on the OLX (ebay) - stolen in Norway. I wrote to the owner and the guy replied to me: Hi, this is my bicycle but I got a 100% refund from insurance, you can buy it if you want, but replace Oil Fluid in brakes :D.
Cheers from Poland riders!
p.s2
I am looking for small spring to ST-RS685 2015 right lever. Responsible for gear index (UP) 😛
Or entire (broken) Right Lever (probalby Ultegra?) maybe from some 105 or Sora / Tiagra will fit ?
This is how it loks on the left lever:
Sorry mate ..I got bored half way down ..but I do hope it had a happy ending ..
good story (x2) - well done uysy !
Sorry, can't help with your shifter question (maybe find a stolen road bike next time 🙂 )
Yep - too much to read. Hope is was good though 😉
<p>Well done for doing the right thing and having the patience and perseverance to go through all that!</p>
Good story.
Your Norwegian friend should possibly inform his insurance company where their bike is.
Nice one! Good result in the end.
Good to know there are nice people out there who will help!
Lazy people who didn’t/wouldn’t spend a minute or two reading; shame! This guy just spent six months helping someone get their stolen bike back.
Nice work OP!!!
Great job!
Amazing OP. I read it all and no I wouldn't have gone to anything like that amount of trouble over someone else's toy, but genuinely good on you. But this is the best story I've heard today. Maybe not new to some but it was to me.
Top work OP
@vincienup..and almost took as long telling the tale ...
I'm genuinely happy there was a positive end to the story..and well done OP...😁
Can people stop posting stuff that makes me cry please!
Well done. Top marks for being stubborn!
Hi all 🙂
entire case took me over 1 year.
And point of this post is - ADD STOLEN bikes on stolen-bikes.uk or other websites.
It's not cool to ride on someones beloved bike (stolen bike). 🙂
p.s
I am still looking for broken ST-RS685 right lever ;). So i can fix mine, from stolen bike.
A few years ago there was a graduate who worked for my team, I recall he was Slovenian. He said that over in that part of the world if you want a highend MTB or road bike you can effectively order it, a gang is dispatched to the UK and they find the bike, drive it back and sell it.
Good work uysy.
Do the criminals get brought to justice though?
The business model must be something like:
Thief with bolt croppers/battery angle grinder steals bike
Sells to fence
Fence groups bikes together and packs them into a van going to Poland
Polish counterpart lists items for sale on OLX
Unsuspecting (or not bothered) buyer snaps up the cheap stolen bike.
I don't know the police (in the UK or Poland) put much effort into uprooting the criminal network involved?
What would the sentences be for exporting stolen goods?
To be honest I doubt the Police on either side are really that bothered, unless there is some serious persistence like in the case of the OP.
Well done uysy, tenacious T.
Well done for going to all that trouble, the story reminded me a bit of this though.
Hi op,
Fair play to you.
Just wondering ..... ..
Did the original owner notify the insurance company and offer to give them the money he got or did he just pocket it?
Did you try and get the bike back out of the goodness of your heart or because you wanted to buy it off him?
Sorry, can't help on the spare part. I suggest you start a new thread for that.
I think I might wait for the film to come out.