Bike Recoveries

Recovered from a residential address. Thank you.

Contacted by someone who bought it via facebook marketplace , checked the stolen bikes websites, saw it was recorded as stolen and contacted us.

RECOVERED - Genesis Broadway My bike got stolen on the 30th of July around Parker's Piece and regent Street. i posted this on the group on the 31st, lodge a police report and indicated the bike as stolen on bike register. I also regularly checked for the bike of Facebook marketplace and gumtree. Two and half months later ( last Tuesday 4/10), the bike was advertised of the FB marketplace and Cambridge selling page at different prices £300, £200 and £150 ( a bike initially worth £750). The same morning i was tipped off by a potential buyer who gave me the address of the seller. As i had done some precise modifications on the bike i instantaneously recognised it though the front wheel (WTB tyre originally but replaced with a triban road bike tyre) was no longer the same ( important for later). I then contacted Omar and the police to inform them of the situation. The latter said they would review the situation ( after an hour of waiting on the phone) and didn't have the resources to act immediately. Omar contacted the seller the next day and demanded that the bike be returned immediately but they had already sold it to a stranger in front of a random shop in Arbury. My brother and i went there in person and demanded the bike. But the guy seems to genuinely claim that he bought if off someone and didn't know it was stolen and had sold it on to a completely stranger. He pleaded to give him until Friday to try to find it back otherwise he would refund the bike's value. We showed compassion for his family situation and agreed to this deal which we got in writing. And i updated the police with this new information. Switch to Friday, the seller said he found the buyer who lives 15 mins out of Cambridge and gave us the latter's address and told us to collect it there. he said it was no longer his problem and he wouldn't pay for it ( with all the insults while we never used any form of threats or vulgar language). Through screenshots he sent us, it was clear that this was a deal he made through the marketplace ( not a random stranger) and had the address of the buyer from the beginning. Had he given us this information on Wednesday, i would have recovered the bike on the same day and saved us all this trouble. Omar was able to contact the ‘buyer’ who was duped into believing that they had purchased it for £700 only recently. Though suspicious in the beginning ( I don't blame him), he agreed to return the bike. We met him on Wednesday ( 12/10) and recovered the bike by refunding him £150 from our pocket. AND he also gave me my original wheel ( WTB) and front mudguard which he got from the seller. The seller has agreed to refund us the £150 on the 25th of this month in exchange that we don't share their details. PAYMENT WAS DONE! My take on all of this, if there's a next time, be stern to get your property back and don't show too much compassion. The police won't be as reactive as we wished they would be as recovering stolen bike is not a priority despite being given all evidence and exact addresses.

The bike was brought back to a brush near my house. The tracker must have went off and scared the thieves, who abandoned the bike near where they stole it.

Someone purchased your bike and saw the Bike Register markings and upon checking that has found the bike to be stolen and has brought the bike to Twickenham Police Station

By the police within 10 mins of 999

Me and 2 friends followed the bikes GPS signal and located the bike in an abandoned site with a caravan located in East Ham with 2 males.

SHORT > Found a listing on Gumtree with significant similarities, informed Police Scotland, posed as a buyer and verified it was in fact my bike in person. Called Police Scotland who came to verify the frame number to the crime number and handed the bike to me once it checked out. LONG > After keeping daily tabs online for a month, I eventually came across a listing on Gumtree not far from my city. Upon further inspection of the images, I was able to identify that it was in fact my bike based on unique characteristics that were identical, some parts of the bike had been changed. I called Police Scotland with information about the ad the following afternoon and contacted the seller and posed as a buyer from elsewhere. As the week was progressing, I was getting anxious as I was not getting any information from Police as to whether they were investigating the ad or not, so I called back and was informed that the officer on my case was off at the time. I then decided to confirm arrangements to view the bike at the weekend with the seller. This conversation got me the address which was in fact not in the area that was on the listing but was quite close to my home address. Once we arrived at the seller's address, I immediately started to look over the bike, looking for characteristics that I was familiar with before flipping it over to read the frame number. During which we were making casual conversation such as how long he had the bike, he lied. I knew the bike was mine before doing so but Police were only interested in the number regarding coming to the address. A few phone calls later we were greeted by a few officers who verified with the crime number details that the bike was a match and handed the bike to me. Due to a lack of evidence, the seller basically got a slap on the wrist. But I’m grateful that I got the bike back in one piece and hope my experience is able to help someone else.

I was contacted by police to say bike had been found as part of a raid for another crime, and my bike was returned to me a while later.

My bike was found at the local college about a month after I reported it stolen from railway station. It was delivered to my address by the lovely Thames Valley Police team!

Local person found the bike and kept hold of it until they found the correct owner, hats off to them what a saviour! Police were of no use.

Kindly recovered by a couple who discovered the bike, inexplicably, on the roof of their garage! It's a large frame, so I assume the bike was too large for the thieves, and they managed to launch it into the air with the force of the sheer anger. NASA should hire them.

I was connected by my brother who had seen the bike.