beware...    " Thieves are using 130,000 blank registration documents to give fake new identities to stolen vehicles before selling them on, it was revealed today. Stolen vehicles are “cloned” in the scam, which means they are given the registration, engine and frame number of a legitimate vehicle of the same model and colour. The same details are then put on one of the blank registration documents, stolen from the DVLA. History checks only examine the past of the copied vehicle, whose owner will be unaware of the scam. The Association of Chief Police Officer’s Detective Chief Inspector Mark Hooper told the Daily Mirror: “We’re recovering about 10 a week and we think there’s easily over 120,000 to 130,000 stolen blank documents out there still. "   Not sure how it's possible to tell a forgery                                                                                                                                                                             

I have had my number plates copied before, but hopefully never a log book.   I should imagine that most folk would not be able to distinguish the difference a fake and an original one.  Good forgers are hard to find so to speak !!!                                                                                                                                                                             

They say you need to check the serial number of the V5                                                                                                                                                                              

buy off a dealer, cant go wrong then plus you get a warranty                                                                                                                                                                              

 But if you buy from a dealer, you pay 20% more than private, and a lot of dealers will wriggle out of a warranty agreement if they can. They've got that bit patented!!                                                                                                                                                                             

i think if you get to know a dealer and the staff ( if you find a good one ) and be lucky enough to know a bit about bikes and buying them its a better option, plus you dont get the " sold as seen " on the reciept, as i am sure we have all been bitten with that old chestnut !!

The DVLA Website has the serial numbers of the stolen logbooks,   "If you find one that is in the range of BG8229501 to BG9999030 or BI2305501 to BI2800000 do not proceed with the sale and contact the police."                                                                                                                                                                             

Good info Rob