Thought my motorcycle was in storage...

Common sense and DVLA are not to be used in the same sentence.
Hope you get it back though.

[tigersaw]

I don't understand all this registered keeper / owner nonesence.

If they had taken your electric drill then thats theft.
So they take a motorbike, (or an assembled collection of motorcycle parts your honour), get a V5 and its now theirs? Surely they just pinched your stuff clear and simple?

Originally Posted by sydoggkdy

but the DVLA know my dads new address as its on his licence so some common sense and they would have found him.

Trouble is most of the companies don't actually speak to other departments. There seems to be no attempt at any sort of cross-referencing at all.

It wouldn't surprise me to find the new building owner had 'sold' it to the builder. The builder riding round on a motorbike he thinks he has bought fair and square.

Originally Posted by Stig

It wouldn't surprise me to find the new building owner had 'sold' it to the builder. The builder riding round on a motorbike he thinks he has bought fair and square.

Aye, or just told him he could take it as it wasnt wanted.

Monday morning

"hey - anyone know who's bike that is ? "

"nah, djk mate, you might as well have it , if you can be arsed to get it going ..."

"errr .....?"

Next Monday -one battery, bit of fuel and a fettle later, kick it over,
" blimey, it goes , yippee "

"hey mate, you dont thibnk that might be someones pride n joy, y know, the previous owners maybe......"

" - they ve given me the V5 , its not theirs any more is it !"""


Best of luck getting it back - ive been offered a CB250 with no V5, v similar origins i expect....

As Sid said that is the best way to begin with don't, go full steam ahead may just complicat the issue at hand and not actually get you the bike back.

Try that first...

As for evidence goes I would suggest two letters...

1) Being from the owner, stating that it is their property, that they gave no permission to remove it for any reason by any persons, how long they have owned and any recpits or documents that relate to the bike. If the bike was to removed then they should be contacted by the person who has allowed them to store it there I would suggest that was for free or a nonimal value say £5 a year as an example.

2) Letter from the person who has allowed the bike to be stored there either from free or the above suggestion, that they given no permisson for the bike to removed in written communication, that they know to contact the owner of the bike before it can moved, or taken from the site without written permisson for the owner of the bike.

If you know who has the bike, you what your options are its up to you. I hope you get it back.

Originally Posted by Stig

Trouble is most of the companies don't actually speak to other departments. There seems to be no attempt at any sort of cross-referencing at all.

It wouldn't surprise me to find the new building owner had 'sold' it to the builder. The builder riding round on a motorbike he thinks he has bought fair and square.

First, don't expect any kind of joined-up thinking from DVLA
If you get the police involved, don't expect the bike to be removed from the new keeper and returned to you quickly. As said above - it may be seized and kept until all the legal issues have been settled. Not a quick job.

I was involved in a similar "oh yes you did" v "oh no I didn't" thing about 10 years ago

* An older chap had bought an elderly non-runner bike from a friend of his sons, the log book was to follow but never turned up (this was the tale I got - I had no reason to doubt it).
* I bought it as an unfinished project with receipt from the old chap and applied to DVLA to get new logbook, this turned up ok after a few weeks in my name I was happy as (I thought) it showed DVLA had made any checks, contacted the last keeper as shown on their system etc. As far as I was concerned I was the new legal owner (and had a V5 in my name).
* I spent a fair bit of time any money fixing the the bike up, got it MOT'd etc but decided to sell it rather than put it on the road myself. Sale went ok, I sent V5 off, new keeper received V5 in his name as expected. All fine.
* The problems started when he went to tax it, Police / CID ended up involved as the previous keeper (mate of old chaps son - remember ) claimed bike had never been sold and would like it back.

I'm not sure what final result was. No idea know how I (and chap I sold it to) got V5s but trying to tax it caused a CID investigation

Similar tale from many years ago. A drunken mate bought a modern but scruffy moped very cheaply from a scrapyard (all legal - with receipt etc). When he sobered up he realised it didn't run and he had no bike license. I bought it from him and applied for V5. Had a visit from CID who told me bike was stolen / not recovered. I got to keep it as I had bought it in good faith. Previous owner who reported it stolen (and claimed on insurance, then weighted the bike in at the scrapyard) was charged with fraud etc.

Good luck sorting it out

[Stu]

Write it off.
It's a 24 year old bike.
You left it in someone else's property for how many years? Without paying storage costs.
You didn't inform DVLA of a change address of the registered keeper - that's £1,000 fine right there that you're putting your hand up to.


Just an alternative view

Ignore everything written on here so far and if you really want the bike, go and get some proper advice from a solicitor who deals with such matters.

Originally Posted by Stu

Write it off.
It's a 24 year old bike.
You left it in someone else's property for how many years? Without paying storage costs.
You didn't inform DVLA of a change address of the registered keeper - that's £1,000 fine right there that you're putting your hand up to.


Just an alternative view

I can see this side of it, certinaly with leaving it for so long in someone elses property.
However i suppose if someone took anything off me without my consent i'd be really unhappy/down about it.
As for the £1000 fine for not changing my address i belive it's a similair fine for not changing ownership on your vechile? I got pulled by the police in 2008 and had owned my car for 9 months. I hadn't changed the ownership (stupidly), of course they wanted me to produce lisence, insurance, log book. And i just went into the police station, explained i had forgotten to change it. They said no problem come back next week with your bits when you have changed it. No issues atall.

I think it might be alot of effort for them to bother assigning a £1k fine for the paper work and similair and therefore it's more there to scare you into getting address changed, ownership changed and etc...

Matt.