I was woken up by the boys in Blue last Saturday night/Sunday morning at 3;15 am.
"Morning Sir, Are you the owner of the Black Audi S3 Reg no ******?"
"Yes"
"Can you get dressed and come outside please?"
I throw on some rags and off i plod. Once outside i was shocked to see my whole car in a sorry state to say the least.
"WTF as happened here then?" i said,
"Now before you get to excited Sir we have your Neighbour as an eye witness and we actually caught them red handed with all your parts"
Now on closer inspection with the arresting Officer the damage became more apparent.....
Attempted Headlamp removal prizing againist bodywork,
Fog light removal again prized against bumper,
Headlamp washers prized out,
Both Polished Geniuine Mirrors removed and base plates/looms damaged,
Rear bumper insert prized away against bumper,
Scuff on rear N/S wheel arch where i think they may have tried to get close in another car before hand,
"Now how much damage has been caused here Sir?" the officer says.
"£800?" he suggests,
I say "That figure would just about get me a complete Mirror at Audi, and with all the paint damage you would be closer at around 2K mate"
"I know this is a top of the range A3 and these parts are probably stolen to order especally them mirrors you have".
"Ok" he says. "call us in the mrning and we'll give you a progres report"
Off i go back to bed thinking that Justice is taking place and the Police have actually came good for once. After all they have both an eye witness and caught them red handed.
I get a call in the morning from an accesser employed by the Police to come and check all the damage and another from the forrensic dept to do another once over.I find out from the accessor that the 2 guys are of a Eastern European nature and have decided that they know no English but manage to suggest they were drunk at the time, and the police are waiting for a translator to arrive later that Sunday.Mean while forrensic woman turns up and sprinkles the whole car in Aluminium dust. Great.
"If you call back in the morning we'll let you know whats going to happen" they say.
Completely fuming about the whole thing as i have no car as "It's not road legal" (copper said). Only owned her for a few months as well. So treated myself and the Missus to a Take away to sulk into. Whilst walking back from the Chinese at 10 pm Sunday night i get a call from the Police.
"Evening Sir, We have some progress news regarding the damage to your vehicle"
"Great" i say, "What's happening?"
"The 2 guys arrested have admitted guilty to removing parts from your car and said they are sorry as they where drunk and didn't know what they were doing"
"Yeah....and......", I say,
"Well they have no previous in this Country and we have had to let them go with a CAUTION"
Well you can imagine my response to that and what i did NOT call the Police force.
"So when can i get my property back then",I asked.
"it's with forrensics and they'll be in touch"
"Why is it with Forrensics if you havn't charged them and you probably took prints anyway,Right?"
"Yes we took Finger prints so i'll request to them that they have it returned at earliest the opportunaty"
Now this is where it gets more strange. So-called forrensics didn't return anything untill the following Sunday when the arresting Officer (the one at the start with his £800 estimate) comes round and gives me a piece of paper to sign and hands me two Mirror lenses from the mirrors themselves.
"Where the rest?" i ask,
"Thats all we found" he says.
"Thats strange" i say because on the night of the arrest you knew all about my car being "top of the range" and described to me the parts found,"especally the mirrors" and now you are only handing me the lenses"
"Well maybe you should have checked the bushes in case they stashed them in there" he said.
"But you said you caught them red-handedwith the mirrors and other parts" I said.
"yes"
"so when did they have a chance to stash anything then?" i reply.
"I don't know they could of done it at anytime"
"Very stange as the most expensive parts have all of a sudden gone missing ay?.and I will be following this up as an offical complaint as my property seems to have vanished from the time of arrest and getting to the station".
"Ok Sir" and off he goes.
I have heard nothing since as the officer is working nights and can't call in the day apparently.
I then took Monday off work to sort things out at my local Audi dealer. I am fully comp business use insurance with Elephant and to rub salt in they tell me that the Audi dealer is not there approved garage and i have to take it elsewhere. I refused and stayed at the Audi dealer who then tried to offer me a FORD! and it was a KA!. By this time i was not very amused and stayed there untill they had a suitable courtesy car was available (10 mins). And guess what a new Sportback just so happed to materailise. I then get a call from Elephant telling me that my 4.5 years no claims are no more due to not having any 3rd party to claim againist for the damage.
So overall a very big waste off time and me the victim comes off worse for wear, now how do you work that out?
Sorry about all the "He said" "I said" stuff :-(((((((((
"Morning Sir, Are you the owner of the Black Audi S3 Reg no ******?"
"Yes"
"Can you get dressed and come outside please?"
I throw on some rags and off i plod. Once outside i was shocked to see my whole car in a sorry state to say the least.
"WTF as happened here then?" i said,
"Now before you get to excited Sir we have your Neighbour as an eye witness and we actually caught them red handed with all your parts"
Now on closer inspection with the arresting Officer the damage became more apparent.....
Attempted Headlamp removal prizing againist bodywork,
Fog light removal again prized against bumper,
Headlamp washers prized out,
Both Polished Geniuine Mirrors removed and base plates/looms damaged,
Rear bumper insert prized away against bumper,
Scuff on rear N/S wheel arch where i think they may have tried to get close in another car before hand,
"Now how much damage has been caused here Sir?" the officer says.
"£800?" he suggests,
I say "That figure would just about get me a complete Mirror at Audi, and with all the paint damage you would be closer at around 2K mate"
"I know this is a top of the range A3 and these parts are probably stolen to order especally them mirrors you have".
"Ok" he says. "call us in the mrning and we'll give you a progres report"
Off i go back to bed thinking that Justice is taking place and the Police have actually came good for once. After all they have both an eye witness and caught them red handed.
I get a call in the morning from an accesser employed by the Police to come and check all the damage and another from the forrensic dept to do another once over.I find out from the accessor that the 2 guys are of a Eastern European nature and have decided that they know no English but manage to suggest they were drunk at the time, and the police are waiting for a translator to arrive later that Sunday.Mean while forrensic woman turns up and sprinkles the whole car in Aluminium dust. Great.
"If you call back in the morning we'll let you know whats going to happen" they say.
Completely fuming about the whole thing as i have no car as "It's not road legal" (copper said). Only owned her for a few months as well. So treated myself and the Missus to a Take away to sulk into. Whilst walking back from the Chinese at 10 pm Sunday night i get a call from the Police.
"Evening Sir, We have some progress news regarding the damage to your vehicle"
"Great" i say, "What's happening?"
"The 2 guys arrested have admitted guilty to removing parts from your car and said they are sorry as they where drunk and didn't know what they were doing"
"Yeah....and......", I say,
"Well they have no previous in this Country and we have had to let them go with a CAUTION"
Well you can imagine my response to that and what i did NOT call the Police force.
"So when can i get my property back then",I asked.
"it's with forrensics and they'll be in touch"
"Why is it with Forrensics if you havn't charged them and you probably took prints anyway,Right?"
"Yes we took Finger prints so i'll request to them that they have it returned at earliest the opportunaty"
Now this is where it gets more strange. So-called forrensics didn't return anything untill the following Sunday when the arresting Officer (the one at the start with his £800 estimate) comes round and gives me a piece of paper to sign and hands me two Mirror lenses from the mirrors themselves.
"Where the rest?" i ask,
"Thats all we found" he says.
"Thats strange" i say because on the night of the arrest you knew all about my car being "top of the range" and described to me the parts found,"especally the mirrors" and now you are only handing me the lenses"
"Well maybe you should have checked the bushes in case they stashed them in there" he said.
"But you said you caught them red-handedwith the mirrors and other parts" I said.
"yes"
"so when did they have a chance to stash anything then?" i reply.
"I don't know they could of done it at anytime"
"Very stange as the most expensive parts have all of a sudden gone missing ay?.and I will be following this up as an offical complaint as my property seems to have vanished from the time of arrest and getting to the station".
"Ok Sir" and off he goes.
I have heard nothing since as the officer is working nights and can't call in the day apparently.
I then took Monday off work to sort things out at my local Audi dealer. I am fully comp business use insurance with Elephant and to rub salt in they tell me that the Audi dealer is not there approved garage and i have to take it elsewhere. I refused and stayed at the Audi dealer who then tried to offer me a FORD! and it was a KA!. By this time i was not very amused and stayed there untill they had a suitable courtesy car was available (10 mins). And guess what a new Sportback just so happed to materailise. I then get a call from Elephant telling me that my 4.5 years no claims are no more due to not having any 3rd party to claim againist for the damage.
So overall a very big waste off time and me the victim comes off worse for wear, now how do you work that out?
Sorry about all the "He said" "I said" stuff :-(((((((((
