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Did the original owner report it to the police when stolen, is there a crime reference number?
Without any contemporaneous evidence I'd wonder whether it was stolen or just sold and the register not updated.
aggi-
I've asked Bikeregister to forward my details to the 'owner'. When they get in touch I'll request they provide crime ref no before arranging picking up of the bike.
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Did the original owner report it to the police when stolen, is there a crime reference number?
This.
If he didn't report the theft at the time, I wouldn't be so quick to hand it over.
Apart from aggi's point, because of the time elapsed it'll be much harder for you to recover what you paid for the bike from the previous seller.
Equally, it's bollocks that someone could do their due diligence (ie check with Bike Register that it's not stolen) and buy a bike, only to have taken off them some time down the line because the original owner couldn't be bothered to report it.
I'd tell him he can have it back if he refunds you what you paid for it (his fault you bought a stolen bike), plus an amount for your labour in maintaining it, minus new parts (adjusted for original parts that were removed).
SlimCharles
Scilly.Suffolk
So... don't know what to do here.
I bought the old bike from Gumtree in about 2014; it was registered on bike register but I wasn't aware of it at the time. Having noticed the stamp on it a couple of weeks after I contacted the seller and asked them to transfer ownership. They informed me they didn't have the details and stupidly I didn't bother pursuing it.
Anyway... 4 years later I have a new commuter and think I may as well sell the old one. Contact Bike Register with the bike details and request they contact the person it is registered to. This person subsequently reports the bike as stolen 'but didn't bother to at the time' and would like their bike back.
When I bought the bike it was fairly cheap but properly knackered:
Anyway I've replaced/repaired/fixed all of the above since; presumably any items I've added can be removed?
Further to the above it seems a bit suspicious to me that this person has decided to declare their bike stolen (at least) 4 years down the line? Might just be bitterness on my part though.
Any advice?