The cops are looking for owners….

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4537159.Expensive_cycle_parts_seized_in_raid_on_shop-

Allegedly a Central shop in Darlington according to sources

makes my blood boil… 👿

Mine too!

shame all cop forces were not so enthused about kicking this particular crime into touch.

£20ks worth? W@nkers!

My bike got nicked in Darlington last month – a trip to the nick is in order for me I think

What was the shops name? Was it a proper shop or one of those low end secondhand bikeshops?

I suspect it's the later – I think I know which one it is

uplink – ooh which one? Email me?

The shop, which is not being identified because of the ongoing police investigation, was raided on Friday morning. About 35 bikes and parts of bikes were seized.

Mike – there was shed loads of police outside that shop on Northgate over the road from the BP garage last week

I'm off to the nick on Friday to see what they have – fingers crossed

Uplink – anychance you can post some details of your finds, the legitimate claims can be backed up with receipts or extensive details.

Shop found to be "recycling" stolen parts?

Isn't that more commonly known as "fencing"?

ring the police number on the article, they will take your details and get back to you when they have an open day arranged

carlos – I'll post back over the weekend on what's there – are you looking for anything in particular?

But as badblood says, call them, they are having viewings Friday & Saturday

Uplink – can you do me a massive favour and keep an eye out for a dark blue Halfrauds GT i-Drive please? Big scratch on the left hand side (as you sit on it) of the down tube.

I phoned the number in the article yesterday but got passed from pillar to post for about 20 minutes 😕

Cheers in advance…

info[at]emersonphotographyDOTcoDOTuk

Will do
Try the number again – they were pretty much on the ball when I rang earlier, I got put straight through to someone who was dealing with it

I must admit that when I rang yesterday they did not know when the 'open day' would be, will wait for the phone call. Funnily enough the guy in the middle of the photo in the artile seems to be holding a Giant VT frame – which is what I had stolen last year!

Anyone see their frame/bike on here:

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Ride-Central

A 'Central' shop in Darlington selling second hand stuff on eBay. Also trying to sell a Giant VT frame which looks VERY similar to the one in the police photo….

Don't want to jump to conclusions but I know this guy from my university days and it would not suprise me in the least. I have had personal experience of dodgy dealings with him, as have several others.

nothing like this one was it?ebay

Kimbers, see my post above!!

IF i can direct your attention to the response here:-

http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,204191.0.html

before people get over zealous without knowing all the facts.

Im nothing to do with any of this however i was under the impression in this country we are innocent until proven guilty…

I probs cant make the viewings (bugga!) can somebody keep their eyes open for a black spesh stumpy fsr comp

Spreading rumours about this shop could put them out of business forever! Again i have nothing to do with the shop in question, in fact i'd never heard of it before now, but if this is a colossal mistake by the police, which i wouldn't be surprised at by the SDH thread, then it'd be a shame to put a shop out of business!

information on the SDH and the echo don't seem to tie up tho. why no mention of arrests on SDH?

Some of you will have noticed that we have begun to sell a small amount of second hand frames and parts both online and in store. This has provided you with some great deals and has allowed us to clear bikes that we have taken in part exchange, move on ex demo bikes and split down bikes that we have purchased second hand.

Although we buy all of our bikes from legitimate sources this activity has caught the interest of the police. We have recently had a small amount of stock taken by the police in order for them to confirm that it is not stolen. Strangely for us the items they decided to check over were mainly cracked frames that we had replaced with new frames under warranty, staff bikes, bikes in for service and a small amount of used components. There are a couple of items shown in the photo used on a police press release that i will identify to you now.

White iron horse sunday bike belonging to Philip Jobling – Those of you on the downhill scene will know phil and know he is a good friend of ours, his bike was in for full bearing replacement and a service

Silver Giant VT frame – This frame was purchased as a full bike from ebay by ourselves, you can see the ebay transaction here; http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160336392257 which shows where we originally bought the bike.

Grey prototype frame built into a 26" dirt jump bike – This is a one off prototype frame we just took delivery of and built it up. Obviously no one else in the country (or world for that matter) has a frame like this apart from us.

The rest of the items in the photo are mainly cheap complete bikes that were in for servicing.

We are looking into how the police have treated this investigation as obviously we are both upset and dissapointed in the manner which they have chosen to deal with it. We are aware that bike theft if a growing problem and have been victims of it ourselves on more than one occasion. It seems that on this occasion the police have been very off the mark and have used us as a means of generating some positive PR for the difficult job they have of putting a stop to bike crime. We think that using this situation for PR along with how we have been treated throughout this investigation that this is unfair.

We have invoices for every item that was taken from our premises and every item that was left on our premises. We also have purchase invoices and sales receipts for all items sold mailorder, instore and over ebay for the entire period we have been trading.

As a company we have done a lot to support the MTB industry including running charity events, sponsoring riders and running race events – the most recent being the northern downhill series which we have done all year without charging for. We would appreciate the support of the mtb industry in clearing up this matter.

Anyone with any questions should contact Dan directly on 01325 485464 or on Dan@ride-central.com

"Two men, both in their 20s, were arrested following the raid"

"£20,000" of kit…

These seem to be fairly exacting pieces of info…

🙁

I think part of the problem here is that ebay is essentially a tea leafs dream come true

My take is that the bike shop is legit but may have ended up buying stolen stuff off ebay

ebay and the police seem unable to deal with the problem in any meaningful way

eg
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/four-stolen-bikes-on-ebay

anyone whos bought a bike part on ebay could have bought someone elses stolen pride and joy

if the police really have got it wrong this time will they announce their falings to the press the way they did with the initial seizure?

Well I've been to see the bikes
If they were all in the shop for repair – they must have all been in for a major repair as they are all pretty much stripped down completely

Mine wasn't among them 🙁

Sorry user-removed – I didn't see an i-drive either

I suggest that you read the thread on SDH.

I have done

Have I missed something?

i think the implication from sdh is that stripped down stuff was bought off ebay as complete bikes

he was then making money by breaking the bikes and selling the bits in his shop/ online

assuming the bikes werent being fenced on ebay thats pretty legit or am i missing something

all it points toward is ebay being unable to control the criminal laundering of stolen goods through the site itself

Fair enough but it'll undoubtedly come out in the wash

If I'd known sdh forum had already decided what the score was I probably wouldn't have bothered going to the nick – that's an hour out of my life I won't get back 😉

How about ebay forcing you to enter a frame number when selling a bike or frame, surly the police have a database of frame numbers reported stolen?

Would this work?

How about ebay forcing you to enter a frame number when selling a bike or frame, surly the police have a database of frame numbers reported stolen?

that's asking quite a lot. Even if they did which I am certain they don't they most definitely won't have a centralised UK wide database.

All frames don't have numbers though
I know on-ones don't [or at least the one I've got doesn't]