Ducati stolen

Well if all Steve has related so far has been correct, the upper
echelons of plod he's dealt with so far, (having acknowledged he's got
grounds to gripe for England over this), have been doing the usual
damage limitation PR, with the grunts lower down the chain not coming
through with goods to suggest they're all taking this matter seriously
enough and thus are casting doubt on just how much substance the
noises being made by Inspectors and the like, have?

Plod don't even need to return the bike themselves - the recovery
company will drop it back to wherever he wants, so long as plod foot
the bill - however, I would stipulate that a senior member of plod
should be present when this happens, so that there's no
misunderstandings with regards to the condition of the bike.

Suggesting Steve go and collect it though is rubbing salt in the
wound, salt I suspect is down yet again to a lack of communication
within the force concerned.

FOYRNB

 

No it isn't.

It's a way of openly questioning why you should remain reasonable -
it's stating you feel you have been reasonable to date, and that,
given plod aren't being reasonable in their responses, why you should
continue to be.

 

In communiqué <1jbj5fl.1yvtquvie3v8uN%>,

No? I thought I probably had.

[WARNING LONG]

It wasn't long after the coming into force of the Noise and Statutory
Nuisance Act 1993 which introduced powers to deal with noise nuisance
from vehicles, machinery or equipment in a street.

A complaint came in about an alarm on a pug 306 parked in our patch. It
had been going off intermittently for over 24 hours but the people
living nearby couldn't contact the owner. Having since owned a 306 of a
similar vintage I know how crap the OEM alarm systems are on them.

As is so often the case with such scenarios it was afternoon and muggins
was minding an office that was otherwise a bit like the Mary Celeste. So
off I trog to the other end of the borough and establish the facts. The
alarm was going off, very loudly, every half an hour for a few minutes.
The neighbours knew which house the 'owner' lived in, but also that they
had gone on holiday for a week to an unknown destination. This was in
the early days of mobile phone ownership so that wasn't an option other
than for using mine to seek reinforcements if necessary.

Fortunately we had already acquired the necessary notice forms because
we knew that this would happen sooner or later. So the next step was to
get hold of the registered keeper's details, as the notice has to be
served on them (including by affixing it to the vehicle). Remember that
this was in the days when the interwebby was in its infancy (though I
had played with Mosaic while doing my MSc), so instant access to
information was not available as it would be today. In principle, the
police had agreed to relay information from the PNC to an authorised EHO
to get the keeper's address. In practice, some forces were playing silly
buggers and formal arrangements had not been agreed, so the local nick
didn't want to co-operate[1]. In the end I had to phone someone in the
DoE (as it was then IIRC), who gave me the number of someone at ACPO.
They supplied a minute from a meeting or a bit of text from a report (I
mis-remember) which gave their blessing to snitching to 'white hats'.
Armed with that I managed to get hold of a senior officer in WM Police
HQ who primed me with a specific standing order number to quote to plod
in our division.

In the meantime I had to contact a local vehicle recovery firm to remove
and store the car if necessary. Fortunately, once again we had thought
ahead and lined a place up. Just as well, because they had to be
prepared to do it all on my say so just on an official order number.

So eventually, after several phone calls going higher and higher up the
local police tree, a plod turns up in a panda car and radios through to
their control room to look up the registration number. I had been
expecting 'Mr Bloggs, 123 Any Road, Thistown'. Far too simple. It came
back as some fairly anonymous quango sounding address oop north
somewhere. By this time it was outside normal office hours, so the
chances of contacting them was remote. That'll do me for the purposes of
abating the nuisance I thought. Notice duly completed, affixed to the
vehicle, with a copy put through the letter box of the house it was
parked outside, which had been identified as being the driver's home by
the neighbours.

I did eventually manage to get a telephone number out of directory
enquiries that seemed to match the address, but as you would expect
there was no answer (about 6pm by then as I recall). The recovery truck
arrived just as the hour given on the notice expired. I had already
decided that there was no chance of restoring the car to the same level
of security it had when the driver left it, and that it would have to be
taken away to somewhere where the alarm could be dealt with or where the
noise wouldn't be a problem.

Plod came back to witness the recovery bloke gaining entry to the car to
assist getting it on the low loader. This was achieved as easily as you
would expect given a shite old peugeot. The PC had already established
that the vehicle had not been reported stolen, but we agreed that it was
worth checking that there wasn't a body or anything really valuable in
the boot before it was whisked away. No need for a full French
Connection type search, but we didn't want accusations that valuables
had gone missing whilst in storage. Once the car had been safely loaded
and taken away I went to the local cop shop and made sure they had
photocopies of all the paperwork.

The next day I managed to get an answer on the number I had which turned
out to be part of the DHSS enforcement setup. At first a minion said
that nobody in authority was available to talk to me, but managed to
find someone when I explained that I had taken one of their cars and
that every day it wasn't recovered was going to cost them storage
charges. It turned out that this was a pool car which the driver (one of
their investigators) shouldn't really have taken home, yet alone leave
parked outside and go on holiday. Seems they had permission from a local
manager - I wonder how big a rocket anyone got as a result. Two blokes
rendezvoused with me at the recovery depot the next day with a key and
official ID. They did a pretty thorough search of the inside before
signing a chit for me and driving it away. IIRC they later paid up for
the costs very promptly.

So there you are. Not up to Pip standards, but a glimpse of an unusual
day in the life of an EHO in the early nineties.

[1] A few weeks later, our top cat had to sign a long indemnity
agreement for the WMP Chief Constable before they would release details
again, and then, as in this case, only to an EHO in person by a plod
attending the scene. Not sure what the current arrangements are.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Urgh, must proof read.

I of course meant 'it's stating you feel you have been reasonable to
date, and that,
given plod aren't being reasonable in their responses, you're
questioning why you should continue to be.'

 

As you say.

 

This is the bit that made me giggle

 

Sounds more like they are muscling in...

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

It was Zymurgy, myself and Bear but OK you make it 5

 

Another update. Their incompetence is never ending.

Signed for letter, attempted delivery yesterday, collected this morning
- postmarked 24th December.

Essentially, it said I have 7 days from the postmark to collect the bike
or they'd destroy / dispose of it.

Additionally, I was responsible for paying the storage charges.

Called the storage people - told them to put it on hold.

Phoned the local Inspector.

He doesn't agree that his team have made any kind of error, and that
everything was legal and justified. He insisted I collect the bike, and
insisted I phone the landlord.

I responded that the officer responsible should be making a call to the
landlord apologising for his errors and I expect the bike to be
delivered back to my house FOC.

Apparently, they're not in the business of apologising, especially as he
refused to admit his team had done anything wrong....

Anyway, I've called my landlord who laughed, said he was used to this
kind of thing and is setting his solicitors loose to deal with the plod.

Eventually, I managed to get an agreement that the police would arrange
with the recovery agent to have my bike delivered to the house.

I am still considering if I should be setting my own solicitor loose on
them, too.

 

In light of their latest then yes and the press and your MP etc

 

If he did, it would be an admission of liability so...

Do this.

 

Do it.

This has gone far enough. There are some mitigating circumstances for
the original error, but their refusal to set things right means they're
now fair game.

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

Write to Jack Straw. Seems he's up for a fight with plod
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8436110.stm
"It is not about money, it is about leadership, organisation and culture."

 

seconded.

 

y agent to have my bike delivered to the house.

I'd possibly try the direct yet free approach, nothing to lose if you
go completely over the inspectors head ... Perhaps a polite yet
sternly worded letter to the chief constable saying you wish to raise
a formal complaint about the actions and subsequent conduct of his
staff, and would like his assistance in making sure processes were
followed to the letter, focussing in particular on putting right the
aftermath of what appears from your perspective to be a completely
botched operation.

Even if nothing else comes from it you know you'll have caused the
inspector a load more paperwork that way..

 

Indeed. Right bunch of arseholes.

Yes, do it. And the press too. I think it's high time some hack got
onto this and ridiculed their rank incompetence.

 

yeah, 'cos making an enemy of a middle-ranking police officer is
*such* a good idea.

 

then move to another district to that house with a double garage.

 

<snip>

Erm, if you want an experienced journo to tell your story to MCN.....

Is it the Ducati they've impounded?

 

Yes, it is.

Can provide full details and photos if interested.