A Beeston man has been left frustrated after his stolen bicycle was sold on at a pawn shop. Sean Donnelly saw his Cannondale Bad Boy, which had gone missing from Tesco in Beeston three months earlier, on sale at nearby Cash Monkey on January 6.
But by the time the 40-year-old managed to get a police officer to help reclaim the bike, it had already been sold. "It's a really rare bike that is worth a lot of money," Mr Donnelly told Nottinghamshire Live.
"It's so annoying. I used it for work every day as I can't drive, so I relied on it."
Read more: Notts men among 22 criminals who flooded UK with industrial amounts of Class A drugs
Cash Monkey, which has numerous branches across Nottinghamshire, admitted the stolen item had 'slipped through the net' when it was bought by the shop, but said it had followed all its processes. Mr Donnelly, who spent £1,000 on the bike three years ago, said he 'couldn't believe what's happened'.
He said: "A friend from work said he had seen the bike being sold in Cash Monkey just before Christmas. I went straight away and I saw it there on the shop floor.
"I said to the guy 'you're selling my stolen bike' and showed him the receipt on my phone." His request was refused due to company policy requiring a police officer to come and confirm it.
Andy Pilgrim, operations director at Cash Monkey, said: "We get many people claiming an item is theirs but we don't act upon it until we have confirmation from the police. We get lots of people saying it's their friend's or family's item.
"We will only talk to the police and work with them from there." Mr Donnelly went to the police station but due to no officers being available was given an incident number that did not suffice for the shop.
By the time police officers visited the shop the following Monday, the bike had been sold and Cash Monkey said there was no recourse. "I feel worse now than when it got stolen," said Mr Donnelly.
"I should've just taken it when I saw it there and then." Mr Pilgrim said: "We will not act until police come in and what's happened in the three days in between is that the bike has been sold.
"If I was in his position I would be annoyed, too, but we have got our processes in place and it is what it is. I understand the predicament and circumstances but we have got our measures in place."
He added that the shop takes identification and applies as many safeguards as possible to stop stolen goods being acquired.
Why not sign up to one of our newsletters by clicking here to keep up with all the latest news from across Nottinghamshire.
READ NEXT:
7 of Nottingham's best vintage clothing shops just waiting to be discovered
Anger over 'disgraceful scandal' as Nottingham's Debenhams falling into disrepair
Take a look around an 80s Nottingham record shop opened by Depeche Mode
Join Slimming World for free with this great offer - claim now to kickstart your journey
