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Awoken by a police man knocking on my door....UPDATED!!
owelly - 31/12/08 at 09:29 AM

Actually he called yesterday whilst we were out and he telephoned me early this morning but..........

He's had a request from the Dutch police, via the Met police, to inspect my engine numbers in my plastic car. Apparently, the numbers belong to a stolen car.
Brief history..
When I bought the car back in 2004, it came with no documents so I did a bit of research, found some old pictures of the car (including an old Ebay listing!) showing the original reg number, and applied for the docs.
Fast forward a few weeks, policeman knocking on my door wanting to see the car as some guy in Holland had also applied for the documents. It turned out the the guy I bought the car off had sold the I.D. off the car to the Dutch guy!
The policeman 'inspected' the car, looked at all the info I'd gathered on it and went away happy. A few days later, the V5 turned up. Happy days.
But now, over four years later, the engine that is on the docs is believed to be stolen.
Unfortunately, I never got around to changing the details on the V5 when I fitted the Alfa V6. Totally my fault but at least I have the V5 of the car the V6 came out of and the engine numbers match.
When I bought the car, there was no engine with it. As can be seen by the printouts of the Ebay listing which I luckily kept!!
As the car was only really put together for the PPC£999 challenge and not used as a road car, I didn't see any rush to alter the engine on the V5 as the car was always going to be resprayed so I thought I'd do all the ammendments together.
Am I going to prison???

[Edited on 31/12/08 by owelly]

[Edited on 31/12/08 by owelly]

carpmart - 31/12/08 at 09:32 AM

Definitely will be locked up! I'll ask the wife to bake you a cake with a file in it!

clairetoo - 31/12/08 at 09:35 AM

You , sir , are a menace to society Dont you realize the importance of keeping your paperwork in order - dammit , hangings too good for you

owelly - 31/12/08 at 09:36 AM

<<Hangs head in shame and awaits public execution/>>

Guinness - 31/12/08 at 09:42 AM

I doubt you'll be hung.

So you bought a car that had no id. You found the correct id and applied to the authorities, with evidence, to get the id back. They believed you, gave you the ID for the car, so the car is legit.

Thus making the other car the fake.

Then it turns out the engine that was in the car might be stolen, but that doesn't matter as you've since taken that engine out and replaced it with another "good" engine.

The only thing you haven't done is inform the DVLA. So say it was a Christmas project and that you've only just completed it. Fill in the forms ready to send off.

If the Dutch police really want a result, send them the original engine back? (Assuming as a horder you still have it!). Or put them on the trail of the car using the duplicate ID?

Mike

eznfrank - 31/12/08 at 09:48 AM

On the upside Boots are selling soap on a rope in the sales

cd.thomson - 31/12/08 at 09:51 AM

quote:
Originally posted by eznfrank
On the upside Boots are selling soap on a rope in the sales


no.freaking.way.

*screech of tyres as Craig races into town, leaving only a spinning office chair where he had been sitting*

Am I the only person amazed at the lengths they're going to over this? International grand theft auto has probably got far, far, far bigger fish to fry than a garage potterer.

owelly - 31/12/08 at 10:20 AM

How longs the rope on the soap??

There was no engine with the car when I bought it. Just a big hole under the bonnet and a few bits of engine mount and a box of nuts and bolts..

adithorp - 31/12/08 at 10:26 AM

Given the evidence you've got I can't see a problem (maybe a slap on the wrist from DVLA for not updating the doc's).

The Dutch are just following a paper trail hoping to find a big fish. They don't know any different untill they check. It COULD have turned out to be a slip up in the past by someone moving stolen cars across Europe that they can't nail any other way.

Adrian

PS. I wouldn't travel through/to Holland again though...ever!

MikeR - 31/12/08 at 10:52 AM

surely you bought it without an engine - ebay listing proves this.

The only way to register it was with an engine so you used the original engine number.

Over the last few months you've fitted the engine - look officer its here.

Now you're about to update the DVLA registration.

The issues as i see it (and i'm no expert on this) are,

have you driven it on the road? If so you should have updated the details immediately - you're a bad boy.

does anyone know that you took part in the PPC challenge? If so all of the above is obviously a lie and you've just lied to the police. This means you're trying to hide something and therefore guilty. They'll investigate further.

rusty nuts - 31/12/08 at 10:55 AM

Come clean, lies will only catch you out. If the engine thats in the car at the moment is clean the worst they can do you for is not updating the documents. BRING BACK THE STOCKS!!

MikeR - 31/12/08 at 10:58 AM

have you MOT'd the car - just wondering about the PPC challenge, didn't it need an MOT. If so what engine was in the car? Perhaps you could prove you've been updating the engine for a while (or it could prove you lied on the DVLA application)

Richard Quinn - 31/12/08 at 10:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by owelly
How longs the rope on the soap??

There was no engine with the car when I bought it. Just a big hole under the bonnet and a few bits of engine mount and a box of nuts and bolts..
Not long enough to let you drop it on the floor in the prison showers (which is the important thing!)

Hellfire - 31/12/08 at 11:25 AM

Public flogging at this time of year always goes down well...

I doubt they will even pursue it...

Steve

kipper - 31/12/08 at 11:29 AM

I think you should be well hung.
Happy new year
Regards Kipper.

JoelP - 31/12/08 at 11:51 AM

the crime was commited by the guy who seperated a car from its id and then sold them to different people. You have the better claim to the car as you own the car itself, they guy in Holland who wants the docs is assumedly trying to fit them to a different car? My guess is that he's in the soup more than you, since british police will tell them that he doesnt have the car he's applying for docs for!

dhutch - 31/12/08 at 12:23 PM

Makes me keen to get my docs in order.
- Car was bought in a re-engined state with the old engine on the docs. Was going to change it straight away but am really stuggling to get the engine numbers of the current engine to submit.

Tried just about everything and im still stuggling to get more than half of them (its all a bit dark, rusty, tucked away)

Needs doing tho.

Daniel

BenB - 31/12/08 at 12:24 PM

Yup. What exactly has the bloke in Holland bought? The identity of a car without a car to go with it? Isn't that ringing??????

You've bought a car, applied for it's identity to be re-attached (succesfully) then done an engine swap. The fact that the inital engine might be hot is unlikely to be a major problem.

Okay so you bought something stolen which means you don't actually own it anymore (seeing as the person who sold it didn't have the right to do so). But you're not using that engine anymore so where's the worry. I don't think they'll do you for fencing...

Where's the old engine now anyway???

zilspeed - 31/12/08 at 12:32 PM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I don't think they'll do you for fencing...


What, like this ?






woodster - 31/12/08 at 01:05 PM

the lucky bit is its the dutch police the worst that can happen is they will tie you up and whip you the video will be on red tube

ashg - 31/12/08 at 01:09 PM

only thing they can do you for is not updating the engine number. which if i recall correctly is a fine not a prison sentance or a criminal record.

if they can find him. the chap you purchased the car from is in the turd for spliting the identity from the car and selling seperatly

the dutch chap is in the real poo as he has obviously built a new car and tried to register it under a false identity. quite clearly to avoid any formal testing e.g sva/iva dutch equiv.

seems like a whole mucky pile of poo fortunatly you just clippled it with your little toe rather than your whole foot.


just shows its not worth trying to avoid the sva

[Edited on 31/12/08 by ashg]

owelly - 31/12/08 at 03:15 PM

UPDATE!!!!!
The Policeman has just been and looked at my engine numbers along with all the documentation for the donor car, the kit and anything else he asked for!
With everything checking out, he let me see the paperwork he had.......
It would appear that some Dutch guy has submitted an application for the registration documents for my car. The engine number he has quoted, belongs to a stolen motorbike.
The UK BiB were making sure that the car that I have is the correct car and that it didn't have a stolen bike engine fitted!

So, if you're a Dutch person who is trying to ring a BEC, Interpol are having you for dinner......

DarrenW - 31/12/08 at 04:39 PM

Owelly, as the leader of the worlds most prolific car ringing syndicate surely you must have some lacky who can take the sting for you?

If not, do you want to borrow one?

owelly - 31/12/08 at 07:31 PM

Absolutely!! I've just fingered my dog!!!

carpmart - 31/12/08 at 07:33 PM

quote:
Originally posted by owelly
Absolutely!! I've just fingered my dog!!!


I would edit this post if I were you - it conjures up a disturbing image in my mind

owelly - 31/12/08 at 09:45 PM

is that because my dog died three months ago?....