Caught car thief. He's going to walk isn't he?

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Humour me.

I caught a fella trying to steal my company car on Sunday. I ran the bd down with the dog and just as he dived into his house (turns out he lives around the corner). I wait at the front door and decide to call the police whilst I wait for him.

My dog is at the back, I'm at the front. The dog jumps up, I slowly walk to the back to see the wee ste poking his head out of the door. I tell him I can see him and he's now wearing a different colour hoody, same jeans and distinct trainers.

He goes "it wisnae me"
I say, "What wasn't, you fking idiot?"
The 999 lady in my ear points out calls are recorded and tells me I will be charged with assault. We exchange pleasantries for several minutes before he bolts again. I catch up to him again, once again entering his house. The dog is loving the running.

I then return to my house as it's not secured, to find in the process of attempted theft he's stuck it in first by accident and demolished the wall. I never noticed before.

Police arrive. Bottom line is, I never saw his face in my car, but the hoody but everything else trainers, jeans height etc. matches, and I watched him enter the house, and the highly suspect conversation we had will be recorded as it was quite loud. Forensics don't come out until the next day so there's nothing on the outside of the car and no prints. There's three swabs to see if they turn up anything but I'm not optimistic.

Sounds tragic, but I wish I'd lied about his face but I was on the back foot having been running around the bd village all morning.

So I reckon that's it. Unless he confesses, or those three swabs turn up something I'm going to continue to see the little st around the village all the time aren't I?

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Mk3Spitfire said:

It wouldn't be a theft anyway, more likely vehicle interference or attempt theft. Forensics on the outside of the car won't necessarily disappear overnight. Not unusual for SOCO to attend following day for relatively minor offences due to work loads.

Yes, it's attempted.

That's not what SOCO said. Understanding workloads doesn't make it any less irritating I'm afraid.

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Defcon5 said:

So he was sat in the drivers seat of your car? Did they take tapings from the seat?

Nope. Dusted for prints inside on mirrors, and swabbed on seat, handbrake and gearstick.

Not aware they did anything else.

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TheConverted said:

You know where he lives? cant see him getting much sleep for a while, not with those frozen sausages.
in all seriousness glad to hear your ok and the dog, that's the main thing.
Andy

Cheers. Dog is still a pup really, he thought it was a game!

"Bloke" is much more scared of me than I am of him. I'll be honest it was a lot easier to keep it together when the guy was stting himself rather than being confrontational, it probably saved us both a lot of hassle.

No manners some people.

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750turbo said:

Retroman said:

I'd be concerned that if he does get banged up what his family and friends might do to the car after they find out who's responsible for him getting caught.
Or if he gets out, what he might do himself in the future (car keyed etc)

I know these things shouldn't happen but that's some people's mentality sadly.

Maybe, just maybe, the scrotes family are disgusted with his antics as well? (Hopefully)

If it's who I've been told it is then yes they will most likely retaliate, but the great thing about small villages. You always find out who did what.

Such a shame really, it's a nice wee place except for a few aholes.

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EskimoArapaho said:

Assuming the police/CPS do not manage to prosecute, you could always go the Small Claims route for the damages (lower burden of proof, etc).

I believe it's all covered by insurance.

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Hamster said:

Reporting honestly about what you saw is not always, hardly ever, the best thing to do.

Yup, but as I said, you chase a smackhead around the village for an hour when you're unfit as hell, then manage to narrowly contain stoving him in then find he's demolished your wall and see if you have your best thinking cap on when the police arrive some 5 minutes later.

Police are good a spotting liars, if in doubt tell the truth I say.

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blade7 said:

All that for a company car, obviously it wasn't right but at worst it would have been an inconvenience if the scumbag got away with the car, or he could have made a fight of it and stabbed you. I'd fight for what's mine but a car that only some accountant is bothered about no.

In my experience people with knives are more reluctant to use them than you'd think. I think they know it quickly goes from a slap on the wrists to a custodial sentence.

Consequences was my thinking when I had him at his house mate. I just kept thinking of missing my honeymoon/wedding, and the fact it wasn't my car. At that point I didn't even know he'd damaged my wall.

I wanted to hit him a lot, but the reality is an assault charge could lose me my job, a conviction would make it a certainty and I'm out of my ear with no chance of reemployment. All for a fleet car and a wall that I had wanted to change anyway.

It's all well and good to go in billy big balls and tt the bd, but he will press charges and everyone in the village can ID me chasing him. I wasn't exactly being covert blocking traffic.

I pay my taxes, the insurance probably covers all liabilities, and I don't believe he's a threat for now. So let the police deal with him.

If his family come after me then it'll get messy of course!

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Mk3Spitfire said:

You left your keys in the car?

Not so much left. It was running because of a boot leak, whilst I was painting next to it. The gates to the driveway were also closed.

He obviously thought it was unattended as he couldn't see me through the wooden door.

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Mk3Spitfire said:

Running because of a boot leak? I don't quite understand that one?

Water inside the car. Heaters on to dry it out.

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Mk3Spitfire said:

And if you were that close to the car...how did you not hear/see him drive into your wall with enough force to knock it down, and yet saw him in the drivers seat?

I'm not sure quite what you're getting at here Poirot. If you're implying I was negligent in some way you're mistaken as currently both the insurance company and police seem happy reasonable measures were taken to prevent the theft.

I did hear him. That's how I turned to then see him. If you must know however I don't recall which I heard first the gates or the wall.

The wall is still standing but is ruined. It's shattered but held in place by wood at all sides, so at a glance you may not notice. Like if you're distracted by a criminal in your driveway.

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Mk3Spitfire said:

No wonder you were so keen to stop the thief. Your company, and insurance co would have loved you!

As I said, none appear have a problem with the precautions I took. I even discussed this point specifically with the insurers.

As helpful as you are being, would you kindly fk off my thread? Only I'm still a little tense, and you're quite irritating.

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Mk3Spitfire said:

Calm down chap. Not having a go...just suggesting that leaving a car running on the street, and being behind a closed wooden door/fence might not imply you're the most safety conscious of people.

Maybe I've got the situation completely wrong, and if I have, I apologise.

Oh...and you can call me Hecule.

I call you more than that, It wasn't on the street you massive bellend in was in my driveway, otherwise why would closing the gate behind it of made any difference?

There's a second gate 1 metre from where it's parked into my garden, where you can see the car running due to the gap above the, now damaged, wall. I stood just beyond this. Distance from the car never exceeded 10 metres.

Even if you'd got the situation right you'd still be pissing off someone who was the victim of crime, albeit more negligently, so frankly you can take your apology and still fk off.

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Mk3Spitfire said:

Ewsh, seen your most recent post now. Don't want to be as intimidated as the kid you chased with your dog, and would hate to have you entering my house...so I'll leave you to it. All the best!

Lol, are you actually mental?

There was no kid, the bloke was older than I am. I never entered anyone's property. The bloke tried to run out the back when I confronted him. My dog is puppy.

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talksthetorque said:

Worst 'I just put my car in to my garden wall' and am trying to blame someone else for it' post of the week.

Yup. Most elaborate wall insurance claim ever.

I actually had planned on a more elaborate one involving two hot air balloons and a dozen midgets, but the wind was blowing the wrong direction so we had to cancel it.

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Ignore me, I'm just a bit stressed. I'm a nice guy just a bit grumpy when poked.

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They tried to lift him the first time on Sunday but he was out (i.e. hiding behind sofa). I've chased but I'm still awaiting a call back. I know which officer is dealing now so can chase a bit more easily.