A BURY man has blasted police and a Stubbins garage after being forced to pay £274 in recovery charges for two stolen motor bikes.

Mr Mark Fielding said the level of the fees charged are "scandalous" and has questioned why the stolen bikes, recovered in Bury, were taken to Stubbins for storage in the first place.

A total of three motor bikes, used in competitive race meetings, were stolen from the back of his van in Bury on Sunday morning. They belonged to Mr Fielding and a friend, whose sons are involved in the sport.

Mr Fielding, of Plumpton Drive, later discovered two of the motor cycles had been found abandoned in Chesham Woods and that apparently police officers had contacted Auto Rescue in Stubbins to recover and store the bikes.

"When I went up to the company, they told me they wanted £105 as a recovery charge plus £12 a day and VAT for each bike. That meant we'd to pay a total of £274 to get our bikes back."

He went on: "I just couldn't believe anyone could charge such a high amount. We all pay our taxes and yet we have to fork out this sort of figure. I wouldn't mind if they'd recovered a large, expensive truck. But it was only two motor bikes. "I also don't understand why the police couldn't have stored them at their station and ask us to uplift them. That would have saved a lot of money."

Mr Fielding said the third stolen bike was later found on playing fields in Seedfield, Bury. "Luckily, we were able to get it back without paying any fee whatsoever."

Sergeant Martin Greenwood of Bury police divisional traffic unit said the charges were in line with those levied by other garages attached to Greater Manchester Police's vehicle recovery scheme.

"If we find a vehicle and leave it there, would the insurance company like it to be restolen and vandalised?

"We try to contact the owner and ask them to come and collect them. If they can't, we are under a duty of care."

That meant if officers were unable to look after a recovered vehicle, then a garage would be brought out to recover and store it.

He added: "This garage was working completely within its rights. They recover a lot of other stuff which isn't claimed.

"The charges of each garage involved in this scheme are the same. Normally, people claim back off their insurance."

Sgt Greenwood also stressed there are no facilities in police stations to allow recovered vehicles to be stored.

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