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bigdaddy`
20-09-2006, 03:36 PM
Hi,

New to the site and just looking for any advice anyone can offer.

The situation is as follows

i recently swapped my car with a guy in scotland who came recommended by other members of a forum i am a member of. I live in UK and arranged to meet the guy to complete the swap. i drove about 200 miles and when i got there he told me the registration papers where still with the dvla as he had just got the car but it was too fast for him. i was upset that he hadn't told me before i drove all the way and he suggested we exchanged vehicles but i got a receipt from him showing the vehicle was still mine until a cheque for 250 pound had cleared (this has now bounced and been returned to me by the bank) and the v5 fror his car was back from the dvla. i thought this would be ok and left with his car, the receipt and the v5 for my car (which he took away with him). i have since had calls from the police and the original owner of the car i was given telling me the vehicle was not actually his as he had obtained the car by fraud(he swapped his original car with the guy who called me but the car was actually owned by a company). i have had to give the vehicle back to the person(original owner) but i am still without mine. apparently the guy is now on the national crime register so can be arrested but the officer dealing with the case in the UK tells me that the scotish police will not arrest the guy so i can get my car back.(i am told they will return my car to me when they arrest him as he acquired my car by deception).

has anyone else been in this situation or have any idea's what my options are??

cheers
Drifter
20-09-2006, 04:01 PM
Oh dear! Thats horrendous :(

I suspect the only thing you can really do is wait for things to happen, but lets see what one of the feds thinks about it.
bigdaddy`
20-09-2006, 06:23 PM
Oh dear! Thats horrendous :(

I suspect the only thing you can really do is wait for things to happen, but lets see what one of the feds thinks about it.

cheers mate,

hopefully someone will have some idea's about where i go next with this as i have a one year old soon and now no car. i can't afford to get another car like the one i had as i'm 5 grand out of pocket right now.


Si
SB118
20-09-2006, 08:20 PM
Do you have any other details about the guy? Address, general area, local pub? Do you have any other keys for the car?

Could you dig deeper with the person who recommended the "buyer"? You need to act quickly before he passes your car on to another unsuspecting person.
Dr M
20-09-2006, 08:33 PM
Report the car as stolen. It has been obtained dishonestly. Make a statement to the effect with the police.

Consult a solicitor as well.
bigdaddy`
20-09-2006, 10:00 PM
Do you have any other details about the guy? Address, general area, local pub? Do you have any other keys for the car?

Could you dig deeper with the person who recommended the "buyer"? You need to act quickly before he passes your car on to another unsuspecting person.

i know his name, address, and where he will be at certain times of the day. the biffest problem is he is in scotland and i'm in central uk.

i might have a spare key but not certain on that.

could i just go take thew car if i have a key for it??

Si
bigdaddy`
20-09-2006, 10:01 PM
Report the car as stolen. It has been obtained dishonestly. Make a statement to the effect with the police.

Consult a solicitor as well.

could i do this as the office dealing with the situation said she would need to look into reporting the car stolen as i handed the keys over??

just to add that the guy never even took a receipt for the car.

Si
Kris
20-09-2006, 10:07 PM
This counts as theft by deception, if you know where the car is then as the "sale" wasnt completed then I would say you are entitled to recover your car if you know where it is. I would let the local police know that you are "recovering" your property just to cover yourself when you collect the car.
bigdaddy`
20-09-2006, 10:41 PM
This counts as theft by deception, if you know where the car is then as the "sale" wasnt completed then I would say you are entitled to recover your car if you know where it is. I would let the local police know that you are "recovering" your property just to cover yourself when you collect the car.

i hope the police see it this way
jamesson
21-09-2006, 12:41 AM
The actual wording is obtaining property by deception and is the sort of thing which happens all the time. I'm sure you're feeling very sheepish right now so hats off to you for posting about it! :)

I've never dealt with cross border cases before, but ordinarily a request for another force to arrest on behalf of someone else is carried out without much problem. Scottish forces might have a different policy though - don't know.

You said there's already an officer dealing with this. Make sure he or she keeps you updated with what's going on. This needs to be sorted out sooner rather than later as you don't want your car going walkabouts again, or getting thrashed/trashed/crashed.

As for recovering your car, I do hope you didn't give him your registration docs given that he had none to supply to you. If you are still the registered owner, then I would say you are more than entitled to go and retrieve your car - but make sure you tell the officer dealing with the case what you're doing. Best of luck.
wazza
21-09-2006, 06:27 AM
Just out of interest.. I picked up and discarded a leaflet at a bike show last week.. there is a web site that specialises in car swaps just like this... I took one look at it and thought OMG this is so dodgy and fraught with danger and now the leaflet is in the garbage.
Akash
21-09-2006, 11:38 AM
I'd just go with a few friends and get the car back with the spare key
does he know whereyou live too? obviously him having the other key could mean he could take it back :>