to think this is stealing? What can I do to prevent it? Have to go to the shop this afternoon - please advise!

[OctopusPie]

Scooter repair shop took my scooter in in April. They told me they would provide me with a breakdown of costs etc for repair. I phoned a few times during April and May trying to pin down breakdown of costs for repair but never getting a final figure and then had a horrible incident which meant I wasn't dealing with anything other than admin relating to incident and forgot about scooter during June July August - my fault. I did put a bankers' draft cheque (because bank couldn't order me a chq book) through the door for £650 but never checked when it was cashed. But had also never received any breakdown of costs for repair just an approximate figure over the phone back in April. Start of September I get a note saying someone has applied for VC5 registration of scooter. Arrangement was that the scooter repairs place (also a specialist Vespa shop) would sell it and take commission so this is what I thought had happened.

When I rang the chap said they'd never received my cheque (my DP says he put it through - even described how the hinges of low letterbox almost took his fingers off - bt having now checked chq was not cashed?) and they were applying to take ownership fo scooter because it was costing them storage. I go into shop, pay for repairs plus MOT etc (now £750) they say they are being kind by not making me pay storage. I'm too worn out to argue. I just want my scooter fixed and sold which I thought I had sorted out.

I phone up DVLA this morning and the shop haven't withdrawn the application to transfer VC5 despite the fact that I have paid for repairs (which haven't been done yet - only paid a week ago) and despite the fact the chap was going on and on about contacting me and I pointed out to him where he had taken down the wrong telephone number for me on the form and asked why no one had put anything through my door (I live a 30 second walk from the shop - they picked up scooter from my flat - I'm on the ground floor with own front door) and it sounds like they may have lost the booking form and becuase I wasn't chasing them they were ringing wrong numbers and couldn't be bothered to walk 30 seconds to my door on their side street!

DVLA have advised the only way I can stop ownership of scooter being transferred to them today is by reporting them to the police for theft! The shop say oh don't worry we will just transfer it back to you once we have been granted legal ownership under Vc5 (happens aumatically by end of day according to DVLA) but I will have to trust the shop to do that and I am not sure I can trust them now even if not malicious they seem terribly organised. They think they are doing me a favour not charging me storage for a scooter I thought I had paid for repairs for and had been sold!

AIBU to think this is all a bit of a scam now since they haven't withdrawn application for VC5? Have no idea what to do or get DVLA to stop transfer of title - any ideas?

Go to the police. Now. They don't sound at all trustworthy, and any solution that depends on them doing what they say they're going to do sounds deeply suspect to me on their current track record.

It's not a police matter. It is a civil issue. You asked them to provide a service, you didn't check they had been paid or even follow it up for months. It is not their responsibility to keep chasing you. See a solicitor or citizens advice if you can't sort it out.

They transferred the V5 as they hadn't received payment. It's a civil debt.

Will try 101 - but is this even urgent for 101? I see posters get hounded on here for calling the police over stuff even using 101 so I'm guessing the police is too much but will they treat it as administrative - e.g. give me a crime reference no to report to DVLA but not actually rock up to scooter shop and accuse them of theft? Becuse I suspect I will then end up with a broken scooter I cannot drive away (no MOT - police wouldn't be able to let me take it) and £750 down with no repairs. The chap in the shop I have dealt with throughout is fairly bumbling (he is probably in his early 70s? Not why he is bumbling but might be related to the whole number, loss of booking form etc) so am finding it hard to think this is malicious and is all just bad organisation (on my side too to be fair not checking banking statements online) but still I will end up with relying on them to give me legal ownership of my scooter back - with VC5 they can sell it without my permission

Purple2012 - will CAB be able to prevent transfer of ownership? DVLA are saying they will only take a crime reference no to stop transfer of ownership but can't see how a CAB would be able to issue that. Will try and find CAB no and see if there's anywhere open today.

Something doesnt need to be an emergency to report it to the Police, why dont you phone or drop into your local station to report it?

Dont get how you didnt notice £650 hadnt came off your bank though, no matter how busy you were.

OK thanks shesariver will report to police on 101 - no answer on CAB line - happy to tell you nature of incident via PM - sometimes better to know full facts before judging - (am assuming google eyes is sarcastic face or disbelieinvg face? maybe just me being over sensitive)

Octopus that's 'confused' face, not disbelief. That ones .

Can't you just apply to change the VC5 back?

No apparently not SoupDragon DVLA advice is 14 days runs out today and ownership transferred at 16:30 today unless crime ref no or shop advise them no longer applying - shop said they would when I paid and haven't

I don't understand how the shop can transfer it but you can't just apply to transfer it. That is irrelevant though.

Can you go and stand in the shop and insist they phone the DVLA then and there to stop it?

Remember that the VC5 is not the registered owner, just the registered keeper

I would be insisting on my scooter being returned TBH.

I"m not certain just what legal clout it would have, but can you get them to sign a letter on their headed paper stating that you and not them are the legal owner of the scooter?

CAB can't get you a crime number and can't stop transfer of ownership - all they can do is give you legal advice. if you are seriously concerned about the shop selling the bike on/failing to transfer ownership even though you have now paid for the repairs, get the crime number asap and stop the transfer of ownership. There might be one heck of a hoohah to get the position sorted out once you've done that though - won't the police be turning up at the shop? Perhaps you ought to go to shop and tell them you'll be contacting police this afternoon so they know what's going on? You really should think about getting some of this in writing to the shop to protect your position too. It's a bit shabby for the shop to have done this when they haven't made contact with you about the repairs - least they could have done is tried writing if they couldn't contact you by telephone.

You won't get a 'crime reference' number. Firstly they don't exist and secondly the only reference the police could provide you with is an incident number for an information report. The incident number wouldn't be any help to the DVLA other than to provide them with some evidence that you've called the police as per their advice and that you'd been told this is a civil issue.

Should the shop refuse to return your scooter then you could contact the police and report this as a theft. At the moment there is no proven intent on the part of the garage to permanantly deprive you of your scooter, so it is a civil issue.

Your bank will be able to find out whether the first bankers draft was cashed. It's literally a cheque issued by the bank, but the money goes straight out of the account when the draft is made. The OP wouldn't have realised that it hadn't have been cashed as the money would have been taken out regardless. Are you able to collect your scooter today? They sound like a bunch of muppets.

It's quite common for a repair shop to take ownership after a bike (or whatever) has been abandoned for 6 months. It was probably in the t&c's. Thats not theft, thats business.

What did you think they were doing with it all that time?

Vagaceratops, if you read the OP you'll see she was a) dealing with something really crappy in Real Life and b) had put a cheque through their door despite them not telling her how much to pay.

Octopus whos judging? As ikbloo pointed out means ..well confused!

It's still not their responsibility to keep chasing. I'd be very surprised if the police give you a crime number. Crime numbers are for crimes. This is civil. And yes they could have charged for storage. They are a business first and foremost.

I would contact the police and see what they say. Certainly don't allow the transfer of ownership to them. It sounds really dodgy. I am sure the bank will be able to tell you if the check has been cashed or not. So was the cheque cashed or not. And if not then can it be reported missing or stolen. It's a lot of money involved. But on the other hand you must take a bit of responsibility for not collecting and chasing up sooner.

TBH thinking about this story it sounds like you've been pretty remiss (ok, due to horrible life events, but still remiss from their POV) but they've been incompetent as well. They gave you no exact quote to begin with, took your contact number down wrong, not cashing either cheque you gave them, and did not withdraw the ownership application when they said they would.

What I'm really confused about though is how on earth the scooter has been with them since April and the repairs still haven't been done. I know you said something dreadful happened in June that put it out of your mind, but 2 months is still a pretty long stretch of time to leave a scooter with a shop when they've not even given you a quote. The whole thing is just odd.

If you live just down the road, can't you go down there and stand over them while they phone the DVLA to retract the application?

To whoever pointed out how a bankers draft cheque works BIG THANK YOU - that now explains to me why statement originally showed it had been cashed immediately (only when I checked recently - i didn't check at the time and just assumed) and why the scooter shop could still be right in saying they didn't cash so they haven't taken money twice. Just trying to get to the bottom of that with HSBC (must move bank when I can bear any more form-filling). In meantime I have spoken to scooter shop and they promised to phone DVLA (spoke to helpful bloke there) before 4.30pm and ask to rescind application - will phone them back at 4pm to check done (still not done when I phoned 30 mins ago) - but otherwise DVLA advice is still to phone police unless scooter shop rescinds. Just seems really wierd to me that somewhere can give you an estimate verbally, fail to invoice you or give you a breakdown of costs, fail to cash a cheque they received hand delivered, lose the booking form so they don't have your address, visit your address once but forget where it was, take your phone number down wrong and then accuse you of not answering voicemails, and when all else fails apply for legal ownership of the property! Fingers crossed will all be sorted in 16 minutes! I am hoping that the scooter place thought applying for the VC5 was the only way of getting in contact with me rather than any intent.

They have not applied for legal ownership. The VC5 just shows the registered keeper which is not the same thing.

The bank can check whether the bankers draft has been cashed, they won't necessarily tell you this though as it's an absolute pain in the erm...yes...to do.