A BIKE fan who had just picked up a £2,000 machine was heartbroken to find it stolen next morning from his workshop, alongside work tools valued at £4,600 and a mountain bike worth £850.
The break-in at Old Street Farm, Nibley, Blakeney, took place overnight last weekend near the scene of another break-in six weks ago, when motorbikes and pushbikes worth around £20,000 were taken.
Harry Lee said: “I left the workshop and locked up at 7.45 pm on Saturday (November 30), and the farmer found the door open at 7.50am next morning and everything was gone.
“I had my tool trolley which they broke into with all my snap-on tools worth up to £4600, my motorbike which I’d picked up that Saturday afternoon which I valued at £2,000 with other spare parts that came with it.
“And they also took my Land Rover Dynamic orange mountain bike which I paid £850 for, and is very distinctive and I haven’t seen many around.
“They also cut the lock off of another door and they looked round other sheds.
“You see all these thefts around and you feel sorry for them, but after having it done to you and the money you’ve spent and saved up gone in one night is the worst feeling ever.
“It’s impossible to go and buy it all again after a few years of buying bits at a time,” added Harry, who works at Forest of Dean Tyres in Whitecroft.
“My trolley of tools has been reduced to nothing. So much effort and money put into building it all up, only to have it all taken away overnight.
“They even parked down the road to load it all up. All I have is tyre tracks, so I’m thinking it was a a 4x4.”
He appealed to anyone with information to get in touch via his Facebook page.
“If anyone has got any CCTV on the road from the lay-by from Lensbrook at the top of Nibley to to Blakeney shop, can you please check to see if any vehicles were passing through in the early hours that looked suspicious and please send me info,” he said.
The motorbike is a DT 125r 2001, registration LF51 XML, with white side panels and Supermoto wheels bolted on, plus front-green forks with Yamaha stickered up one side.
A Gloucestershire Police spokesperson said: “We received a report on Sunday morning that outbuildings had been broken into overnight with a number of items stolen including tools and an off-road motorbike. “These have a combined value of more than £7,000. Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call police on 101 and reference incident 95 of 1 December.”Last October, fellow bike fan Shane Gunn had three motorbikes and three pushbikes stolen by a gang from his New Road home in Blakeney - the former Travellers Rest pub.
They broke open security steel roller doors on the garage at the back of the property and smashed off the locks holding the bikes before carrying them up steps, through a hedge and across a field.
Among the bikes were his pride and joy, a vintage red 1979 Honda Red Rocket Motocross Bike in ‘immaculate’ restored condition, which Shane valued at £8,000 or more.