Drunk guy damaged bike, what can I expect...
Discussion
So I came back to my motorbike on Thursday afternoon to find a note left on there saying that someone had sat on it, pretended to ride it and lost their balance. They've dropped the bike and broken the gear shifter and gear linkage and then tried to do a runner.
Someone saw all this happening and called the police, left their details and a description of the (apparently drunk/stoned) guy.
I've contacted the police since and they don't seem to have followed this up other than writing down the details from the initial call.
Now, usually I'd assume I had absolutely no chance of anything coming of this. Random drunk guy in the middle of Cardiff, never going to find him, etc. Except that one of the other witnesses recognised him. I have multiple sets of people who have talked to the police and given a full description of the guy, a photo of him and a full name. The bike was parked directly in front of a council CCTV camera and so I could probably get the footage as well if required.
We're really not talking about a great deal of money here, probably a bit more than £100. It's still £100 I shouldn't have to pay!
So, does anyone with any experience of this kind of situation know what I can expect from the police?
Someone saw all this happening and called the police, left their details and a description of the (apparently drunk/stoned) guy.
I've contacted the police since and they don't seem to have followed this up other than writing down the details from the initial call.
Now, usually I'd assume I had absolutely no chance of anything coming of this. Random drunk guy in the middle of Cardiff, never going to find him, etc. Except that one of the other witnesses recognised him. I have multiple sets of people who have talked to the police and given a full description of the guy, a photo of him and a full name. The bike was parked directly in front of a council CCTV camera and so I could probably get the footage as well if required.
We're really not talking about a great deal of money here, probably a bit more than £100. It's still £100 I shouldn't have to pay!
So, does anyone with any experience of this kind of situation know what I can expect from the police?
mx5tom said:
So, does anyone with any experience of this kind of situation know what I can expect from the police?
<£100-worth of time.I'd expect them to follow up on the name, but if they deny everything and there's no clear photographic evidence, then there's really not much they can do.
Well its criminal damage so you should be given a crime number. That will then be allocated to an officer to investigate but it can take a few days for that to happen.
Have you been given a crime number?
If not ask for one, if the guy is traceable and there's witnesses and CCTV showing it the police shouldn't have any problems sorting it out and if he is elligable they might be able to get him to pay for the repairs.
Have you been given a crime number?
If not ask for one, if the guy is traceable and there's witnesses and CCTV showing it the police shouldn't have any problems sorting it out and if he is elligable they might be able to get him to pay for the repairs.
Greendubber said:
Well its criminal damage so you should be given a crime number. That will then be allocated to an officer to investigate but it can take a few days for that to happen.
Have you been given a crime number?
If not ask for one, if the guy is traceable and there's witnesses and CCTV showing it the police shouldn't have any problems sorting it out and if he is elligable they might be able to get him to pay for the repairs.
Even if he is cautioned I thought there was no legal mechanism to recover the cost of the damage. I wing mirror damaged by a biker years ago he punched it and he was cautioned for criminal damage and police told him to pay for the damage but he never did.Have you been given a crime number?
If not ask for one, if the guy is traceable and there's witnesses and CCTV showing it the police shouldn't have any problems sorting it out and if he is elligable they might be able to get him to pay for the repairs.
jbsportstech said:
Even if he is cautioned I thought there was no legal mechanism to recover the cost of the damage. I wing mirror damaged by a biker years ago he punched it and he was cautioned for criminal damage and police told him to pay for the damage but he never did.
Restoritive justice or 'community resolutions' are a fairly recent thing as are conditional cautions.Where in Cardiff was the bike parked.
I came back to my bike on its side before, left in Cardiff city centre. . Another friends bike was pushed over against a 2 yr old range rover.
Cardiff attracts all kinds of knobhead, coming here trying to live out some kind of "hangover movie" on a weekend. It's pretty civilised during the week.
I came back to my bike on its side before, left in Cardiff city centre. . Another friends bike was pushed over against a 2 yr old range rover.
Cardiff attracts all kinds of knobhead, coming here trying to live out some kind of "hangover movie" on a weekend. It's pretty civilised during the week.
jbsportstech said:
Even if he is cautioned I thought there was no legal mechanism to recover the cost of the damage. I wing mirror damaged by a biker years ago he punched it and he was cautioned for criminal damage and police told him to pay for the damage but he never did.
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