Bike Shifting in Gokula

Walk into the parking of almost any older rental building and you may find one. A scooter or motorcycle with flat tyres, a thick coat of dust, perhaps a cover gone grey. It belonged to a tenant who left years ago and never came back for it. Nobody quite knows whose it is now, and nobody wants to deal with it.

On a normal day, that bike is just part of the furniture. On moving day, it can cause confusion. A crew arriving to collect "the bike in the parking" may not know which one you mean. A neighbour may ask you to take the old one too, since you have a truck. The owner may suggest the movers clear it while they are there.

We don't move a bike that isn't yours, and we would advise you not to ask anyone to. An abandoned bike still has a registered owner somewhere, and moving it, selling it or scrapping it without their consent or a proper process can create real trouble. If the owner reappears, or if the bike turns out to be linked to something, the person who moved it has some explaining to do.

So on the day, make it simple. Show the crew your bike. Have the registration certificate and the key, and if there are several similar bikes in the parking, point out the registration number. The crew will check the number on the plate against your papers before anything is loaded.

If the abandoned bike is in the way, blocking yours, it can be moved a few feet by hand, carefully, to clear a path. That is different from loading it. Ask the building owner or the society first, and put it back where it was.

If you are the one leaving a bike behind, that is worth thinking about too. A bike you no longer want shouldn't be left to rot in a parking. Sell it, hand it on to a rider, or scrap it through an authorised dealer, and make sure the registration is transferred or cancelled. Otherwise the bike stays in your name, and any fines or trouble attached to it stay with you.

For owners of buildings with an abandoned bike, the usual route is to inform the local police, who can check the registration and trace the owner. That is the owner's call, not the movers'. But a new tenant moving in is a good moment to raise it.

Check your own spot for leftovers too. Over years in one parking, a bike collects things around it: an old helmet on a hook, a cover, a tin of chain lube on a ledge, a lock you no longer use. Collect what is yours before the crew arrive, so the next tenant isn't left with another small pile nobody claims.

Photographs help on the day. Take a picture of your bike in its spot, showing the plate, before the crew arrive, and another once it is on the truck. If anyone later asks what happened to a bike in that parking, you can show exactly which one left and when.

If you are taking over a flat in Gokula and also buying some of the outgoing tenant's things, be clear about the bike. If their bike is part of the deal, the papers have to change hands properly. If it isn't, it leaves with them.

Our Gokula packers page covers buying an outgoing tenant's furniture. This page is about making sure only your bike moves.

An abandoned electric scooter in a parking can carry a degraded battery that shouldn't be disturbed. Don't let anyone try to charge or move it. For your own scooter, tell us the maker and whether the pack comes out when you book.