Van stolen, found by police but taken again - advice needed

stubs

My next door neighbour has recently been having problems with his van (mostly battery related) and on Tuesday evening called out the AA who came to start it for him. The AA guy told him to try and run the van for a while to give it some charge else it wouldn't start again. My neighbour went to pick up some pizza's from Farnworth and stupidly left the van running with the keys in it un-attended & un-locked. As would be expected, he saw someone jump in and drive off in it as he was coming out of the shop.

He reported the incident to the police, but not yet to his insurance as he understands that his claim would be invalidated by the fact he's left the keys in it. He then recieved a call from the police the next day (yesterday) saying that they had found the van parked up in Hindley (about 30 mins from Farnworth).. They had checked the van over and reported no sign of damage. They gave him 2 options; either have it recovered by them at cost to him, or for him to go and collect it. He decided he would go straight over to get the van himself, but less than 1 hour after getting the call he got there to find the van was gone and the police weren't present. He called them to ask where the van was... had they recovered it? etc.. and they said it must have been stolen again!!

The police can't tell if the van was stolen forcefully this time, or if it was taken with the keys from when it was 1st taken. Needless to say he isn't happy, and wants to know if he can now claim through his insurance, or if he'd have any sort of case against the police after they left it without being recovered either by a company or by the owner.

Anyone know how he'd stand up with this?

DirectDebacle

It should have been reported to the insurers on the first occasion. He now needs to notify the insurers together with both crime reference nos.

As far as the police and the second incident goes he refused their offer to remove it to safe storage. As it had been stolen with the keys he should have chosen this option. The insurers may have paid out on the storage charge. Depends on the cover.

jaydeeuk1

Claim off insurance this time imo.

Kurtis_Blue

That's a monumental trail of mistakes.
I would be surprised if the Ins would pay out for either, both, thefts.
He left it unsecured on 2 occasions.
As for claiming from the Police that's just utterly ridiculous they gave him the option of sorting recovery for him after quickly finding his property and were declined, were they meant to stand guard for an hour?

I'm sure half of these posts are made up.

anewman

Maybe the police found it, no keys were present, and the thief came back for a second jaunt?

If he was going to leave it with the engine running (which is technically illegal on a road in itself) he could at least have used a spare key to secure it.

stubs

Kurtis_Blue, I'm sure you may be right about most posts being made up, but on this occasion that's not the case. I'm simply posting on behalf of my neighbour... Please do not judge me by these posts, I have no connection to either incident or his actions. I am not taking sides, but I don't think he has a leg to stand on. I'm simply asking on his behalf as he's not on the computer very often and I think he's clutching at a small hope there may be a loophole he could use to get a claim in.

He does board-ups for a living, and he said that when the police were called to a building that had been broken into, they were not allowed to leave until it had been secured - would the same not apply?

The police knew it had been taken with the keys... would you consider your vehicle "secure" if you knew someone had the keys and knew where it was?
They found his vehicle, but failed to see it returned to him.
The vehicle has now been stolen after it was parked up locked - the theft has now probably been conducted using a stolen set of keys... is he insured against that?

Either way.. I'm not after opinions, I'm looking for legal facts - if anyone knows?
Does he have a leg to stand on either with the police, or with his insurance?

maninthestreet

Make sure the neighbour informs the police that the van is still missing - they may take it off their database of stolen cars otherwise. The van was secured when the police found it - it was locked.

stubs

maninthestreet wrote: »

Make sure the neighbour informs the police that the van is still missing - they may take it off their database of stolen cars otherwise. The van was secured when the police found it - it was locked.

Thanks, yeah he's already done that.. he rang them to see if they'd moved it. He was there about 30 mins after they rang him I think.

They said they can't confirm how it was taken the 2nd time... pretty sure it was taken with the keys again, but not to rule out a forcefull theft.

For this reason, can't he claim on his insurance? Unless the insurance can prove it was taken with the keys wouldn't they have to pay out on the 2nd theft?

hethmar

Sadly I think he has no chance with either the police or insurance. Hard lesson learned.

marlot

Sounds like he needs to spend a few evenings walking/driving round the area where it was last seen [with the keys in hos pocket] and reclaim it as soon as he finds it.

Kurtis_Blue

stubs wrote: »

The police knew it had been taken with the keys... would you consider your vehicle "secure" if you knew someone had the keys and knew where it was?
They found his vehicle, but failed to see it returned to him.
The vehicle has now been stolen after it was parked up locked - the theft has now probably been conducted using a stolen set of keys... is he insured against that?

No I wouldn't that's why when the Police offered to safely have this vehicle secured and recovered I would have said yes, sounds as if they done a great job.

They did not fail to see the vehicle returned they were denied the opportunity.

On both occasions it was the owner who left the vehicle unsecured.

Important legal points not my views.