Went onto ebay to buy some centre caps for my alloys (won't give the make and model) as mine were stolen in South Wales last week. Guess what? there's a seller, only one set listed in the UK and they are only four miles from the sceme of crime.

I'm really p!ssed off and want to sort this out properly - any ideas?

(properly as in lawfully of course)

 

bid and win, go round there driving the car. Ask to see if they will fit then drive away.
astraboy.

 

ring police

 

Can you prove they're yours? If not - forget it

 

Do crimestoppers get involved in this type of thing? or do I just pay by cheque and mail it to his home address? and wait.....

 

Found the thieving scum (isn't the internet an easy place if you know how).

Know his car, got a picture, know all his bb haunts, know where he works, what he likes doing and have his personal E-mail address.

Probably going to E-mail him and suggest he hands the alloy caps back into the Hotel (where he found them).

 

What's the ebay number?

 

I've purposely avoided a scrum of people visiting the item. What are your plans? E-mail me off-line if they include nothing sinister

 

im impressed how did you find all that out?

 

 

Easy really, he uses the same tag on his board listings and 'not being the sharpest knife in the drawer' provides plenty of info, even down to the ride height of his car....

His spelling is atrocoius.... atroshis.....really bad

 

do we call them hub caps in the uk...? or do we call them wheel trims...?

well be calling bonnets hoods next...!!!

 

We used to call them nave plates, then hub caps, yes US influence, when they only cover the wheelnuts/bolts.
Wheeltrim, I use for when the item covers the whole wheel.

 

So how do you know they are your caps?????????????????????
Are they one offs?????????

 

Beat the living daylights out of the little $hit with a hammer, smash his fingers up so bad that he will never be able to steal again!

 

If you start calling bonnets hoods, make sure you never have yours up or Tony will come down hard on you

 

pmsl

 

Is there any proof that he's stolen anything?

 

Back in the days when the police used to investigate crimes a friend of mine bought a dogleg alloy for an XR3i from a 'bloke in the pub' to replace a mashed one. 2 days later the old bill turned up and took the wheel away. After some tests they proved that the polish residue on the wheel matched a car which have been rendered wheel-less a few nights earlier. He lost the wheel, and his money.

They could obviously do the same with your centre caps... If only they could be arsed.

 

I would bid and win, BUT ask some questions first like - Have you got photos??

Make a note of any marks on them and take the 'detailed' description to the police, say you had them stolen 'last week' say? and then return to the police and say that you 'think' you may have found them!!! on e-bay!! 4 miles away!!

Amazingly, the descriptions would match perfectly - you get your caps back

Pete

 

pslewis - again not just pretty face

 

Amazingly the seller pulls up copies of the e-mails asking for a description
Amazingly the police find out they came from the owners e-mail address
Amazingly the owner gets arrested for theft...

Great idea...

 

Great result - well done mate.

Personally, I'd go down the getting heavy route. Plod won't be arsed helping, even if you hand them compelling evidence on a plate.

I was parked round the corner from a plod station a couple of years ago - came back to my car to discover the back wing all dented and a big scrape down the side. Behind the car was a workman drilling the pavement with his transit pick-up with - you've guessed it - matching blue paintwork at the height of my scratch and the length of his tailgate. He shrugged and denied all knowledge of the damage when I asked.

Went round and fetched an (unenthusiastic) plod who asked (after some prompting) agreed it was pretty obvious and asked the workman to go to the station when he'd finished to enable plod to collect paint samples.

Heard nothing for several weeks, started ringing to talk to plod. He was consisently on holiday or going to ring me back. 7 weeks after the incident I eventually got hold of him (he answered the phone) - he told me there hadn't been a crime (!) so hadn't progressed it. When I pushed him he said that his Inspector had decided they hadn't the budget to process the sample and then repeated that it hadn't been a crime (!). WTF??? I gave up as it was a company car which had already been repaired but to this day still can't get over the blatant plod dis-interest.

Back to my point - send the boys round if he doesn't respond politely to your e-mails.

Good luck!

Gordo

 

People are going to be forced to take the law into their own hands, it's ridiculous.

 

Why don't we all bid on the item to get his hopes up before he either gets his fingers broken or arrested

We need a link

 

They've been bought on a 'buy it now'!

 

Well, I took some helpful advice and I now have a crime reference number. Brigend Police were really quite helpful. I passed on all the details, including the mobile phone number of the seller (selling stuff on other bbs such as 'no-rice' etc).

Thanks for all your advice, I'll keep you posted with the results.

 

Fingers crossed......

 

Yes, finger crossed. Please let us know how you get on. It would be nice to hear a positive law enforcement story on this site

 

I've mentioned this a couple of times now but everyone seems to be missing a point, so i'm gonna write it a little bigger


I know it's a coincidence and all that but can you please tell me how you know for sure they are yours? Is it not possible that they are not????????