[Juju]

Of course, call the plod for a genuine crime like the theft, and you'll be totally underwhelmed by the response, unless like me, they find it within 100 yards of the crime scene, and 150 pushing yards of a repairer, in which case they'll organise uplift without telling you to somewhere the other side of the county and charge you £200 for the privilege.

Last time I got a pushbike stolen, it took 24 hours to report the crime as no one wanted to know, having to report to a county call centre miles away, despite the local station being a mile away becasue I was 100 yards into the wrong county boundary fromt where the stolen bike was likely to turn up.

As an employee in the insurance industry, connected with crime, it never ceases to amaze me how f**king useless our canteen filling plod are in the UK. Give them a fully solved crime, and they're not interested, but some ignorant bully takes this kids bike bacause he "looks" young.

Presumably not complying with licence regulations is a criminal offence. Therefore the burden of proof falls for them to show that a crime is committed beyond reasonable doubt. They have at this stage not gathered the evidence, (unlike the disqualified driver example, where the DVLA records may qualify). It's surely not for the poster to show plod have without good reason taken his bike.

And as someone who knows a couple of excellent candidates rejected for the met, and knowing the only kids at achool who joined were bullies who were nothing without a gang, I really think the whole organisation, what we expect from them needs a fundamental rethink.

Why do the police hate the public these days? Is it trained into them that every middle aged male motorist doing 77 on a dry straight motorway is A CRIMINAL, and therefore everyone potentially is?

Public service my ****. I am a law abiding citizen, but every experience I have ever had with the police is overwhelmingly negative, and I despise them. Its stories like this that once more kick a hole in the reputation of a discredited service.