My rights after Police sold stolen motorbike

peterloveland

Hi all,

Thanks for all the responses, I had a feeling there was no clear answer to this.

Just to clarify, the bike wasn't originally stolen as such. The police chased it due to no insurance and then found it abandoned. They tried to trace the owner but no one claimed it-which is when they sold it on. I have a suspicion that the person now claiming it is the same person that abandoned it-although that is just my own guess.

I'm going to start with sending an invoice to the trader as he is the one I had the "contract" with from a Sales of Goods point of view. Then I'll see what happens, but I wouldn't be surprised if I need to take legal advice and drag it through the small claims court.

Thanks again, I'll let you know what happens.

transient

I thought when a stolen car/bike had passed to the 2nd person then the insurance or others have no rightful claim on it as stolen and to be returned, so surely the police should not have taken it the second time from the OP?

arcon5

transient wrote: »

I thought when a stolen car/bike had passed to the 2nd person then the insurance or others have no rightful claim on it as stolen and to be returned, so surely the police should not have taken it the second time from the OP?

Isn't that a rule that protects innocent consumers buying vehicles with outstanding credit?

arcon5

The title did not pass from the trader to the OP.

Therefore the trader will have to pay back the purchase price to the OP.

That I accept. But despite title not legally passing, a contract has even entered in to which has now been severely breached - thus, normal legal principles relating to damages apply. And op has suffered losses as a result of this. So op now having to try mitigate those losses, perhaps by recovering the upgrades where reasonably practical, and making a claim against the trader that put op in this situation.
After all op bought the bike in good faith that the dealer had rights to transfer title