Whorlton crime victim counts the cost after stolen bike is recovered

A WHORLTON crime victim is furious after he had to pay £300 to get his stolen vintage motor bike back.
Two classic Triumph motorbikes were stolen from George Gledhill’s garage in August 2015 and he was initially pleased when he was told that one of them, a 1967 Triumph Trophy, had been found.
The classic bike is the same model as the one ridden by Steve McQueen in the film The Great Escape.
Mr Gledhill said he was initially told that police would be keeping the vehicle at Crook, where it was recovered, for examination.
About a month later he went to collect the bike from a pound in Evenwood, where, he said, he was told to pay for the vehicle’s storage.
Mr Gledhill said: “It cost me £300 to get it out of the pound. Is this justice? All the police should have done was ring me up and say the bike is up at Crook, would you like to pick it up.”
However, PC David Williamson, of Barnard Castle Police, explained that part of cost was for a compulsory Contract Vehicle Recovery Scheme (CVRS).
He said: “That is a statutory cost. It is something that nationally we have to do. Unfortunately, he has to pay for the recovery. It is what it is.”
PC Williamson added that the charge was usually covered by insurance which, if it had paid out a claim, would be the recovered vehicle’s legitimate owner.
While the CVRS costs about £180, the remainder would be made up of a £10 a day storage charge by the pound.
PC Williamson added: “Generally people are notified properly and everything is documented. If he feels he wasn’t given proper notification he can challenge it, it is all recorded.”
The recovered bike was one of two vehicles stolen from Mr Gledhill. The other, a rare 650cc Triumph Bonneville T120, was one of the last of its kind to come off the manufacturing line and was the last to be registered in the UK.
PC Williamson said the investigation into the theft was still active.
In a positive twist, Mr Geldhill, who has a substantial collection of vintage motorbikes, said the recovered motorbike was now in better condition than before it was stolen.
He said: “It has nearly been rebuilt. There has been a lot of money spent on it. It is a better bike now than when I had it.”