A car was involved in stealing some car wheels from my house.

The incident was reported. The reg and vehicle details etc too.

The thieves car was later involved in an accident and abandoned... No tax, no insurance, you get the picture of the the drivers/theives... The car and the car they hit are both write offs.

The police seize and recover the car. They do forensics on it. It's held at the police contractors depot for a month or so. It's still there.

The recovered car has MY STOLEN WHEELS on it.

The police officer on the case agrees they're my wheels and says I can have them back and tries to arrange for me to go and remove/collect them from the recovery depot. I am a qualified and insured mechanic.

The depot says they cannot let me onto their property to remove the wheels "due to insurance and health and safety". But they will happily remove the wheels for me for the bargain price of £150.

I tell them that I am happy and qualified to do the removal my self, I am insured myself and I will write a declaration indemnifying their insurers and taking full responsibility for myself and my actions on their site.

They say no, pay us £150. I tell them £150 is outrageous - I would charge a maximum of £5 per wheel to simply remove wheels.

I go back to the police, the officer trying to help me seemingly has his hands tied.

So I'm referred to the forces Vehicle Recovery Scheme Manager who says pay the £150 or forget it.

The vehicle is now finished with and released by the police. It is unclaimed so will be scrapped. When scrapping a vehicle, the wheels and tyres will be removed as the tyres have to be recycled separately. I explained this to the VRS manager, stating that I could remove the wheels at the point of recycling, or collect them once they've been removed. He again refused.

I asked him why this would not be possible and he now ignores me.

The vehicle is due for disposal in 2 days, so I must act fast.

I accept that statute says vehicle recovery fees are to be met by the owner, but this is slightly different in that they are forcing me to pay an inflated price for a service that can be avoided with common sense, as again the wheels will be removed at the scrappage anyway. There is no logical reason why they can't be set aside for collection. I'm even prepared to remove them myself or collect as they are removed.

Anyone got any advice here? A really unfair situation which also stinks of corruption to raise revenue. Another police officer said I should not have to pay to get my property back, and as its property as opposed to the car, I shouldn't have to pay the recovery fee. Though technically they're not charging me for the recovery, they are charging a grossly inflated fee for a wheel removal service. £150 for a £20 job.

I refuse to let them get away with this, if I can fight it then I shall.

Help!

Thanks again for reading guys!

I have also got quotes of £30-£40 including travel for a non Police contractor garage to do the removal, thus showing how grossly inflated the £150 charge is. As a mechanic myself I would charge no more than £5 per wheel if local, a little more if I had to travel.

Not fair! What can I do?

Apart from stating this to them,

Quis Custodiet ipsos custodes?

I had a car approx two years ago stolen, it was a non-runner as I bought it simply for spare parts. Reported it stolen and two weeks later saw it listed as breaking for parts at a car scrapper.

I called the scrap yard and obviously stated "Oi thats my car!" Got a nonsense excuse and then called Police, Police seized car and told me I could have it back if I arranged transport back to my home, and paid them £150.

Bloomin gangsters!

My situation is a bit unusual in that it has my stolen property (my wheels) attached to the recovered car.

In a normal situation, eg your stolen TV was in the boot, any stolen property would be removed by police and returned to the victim at no cost. So why should I have to pay to get my wheels back?

The recovery company are refusing to let me remove my wheels, and refusing to let me have anyone but them or another police approved contractor do it either. At the same vastly more inflated cost of £150. It's obvious as to why this is - revenue for the police and their contractors. But it is not fair and not a fair price for simply removing wheels, as shown by quotes from local businesses.

I assume that you can prove that you are the legal owner of the wheels and that there has not been an insurance claim by you for the wheels.

I would consider sending a letter before action to the garage saying that you will take them to court for the full value of the wheels and tyres. Taking them to court is relatively cheap and they may back down before going to court. I would offer them maybe £25 for the wheels in the letter.

if the refusal to let you take the wheels off yourself was in writing

the recovery people wouldnt have a leg to stand on if it came to court.

as it stands it is a bit he said she said so tell them in writing that they know that you are the owner of the wheels and they are not entitled to dispose of them and any demand for vast sums of money to remove them is not a contract that you accept is being made in good faith

so you expect them to make the wheels available to you or you will be after recoving your loss from them in a court.

problem is threat them with court and they may back down

but they could just damage the wheels and say they turned up like this

aye but as OP has "inspected" them, havent you?

What was the outcome on this ?. I'm a mechanic myself and have experienced a similar problem.