£300 for police to recover your stolen bike

Plans to raise police charges for recovering stolen bikes from £105 to £300 are totally out of proportion, according to the Motorcycle Action Group.

The riders’ rights group spoke as a Home Office consultation on the proposals closed.

Riders whose bikes are recovered by police after a crash will also be hit with a £300 charge under the plans. It represents a 300% increase on the current charges.
Police storage charges are set to rise from £12 to £15 per day.

MAG’s campaign director, David Short, said: “There are too many examples of bikers who have been victims of motorcycle theft who have then had huge recovery and storage costs charged by the police because of a lack of communication between the police and the victim of the crime.

“This also applies to bikers who have been involved in road crashes and who have not had the opportunity to make their own arrangements to recover their crashed bike.

“MAG will be making the strongest representations to have these proposed rip-off charges consigned to the bin.”