Pensioner travelled five hours to buy e-bike only for it to be stolen in minutes

A pensioner who travelled 215 miles to buy an electric bike was stunned when it was stolen in the three minutes he left it locked outside a cafe.

Brian Westhead spent five hours on a train from his home in Derbyshire to Bournemouth before paying £1,200 for the bike.

The keen cyclist purchased the powered bike was for his wife so she could join him on arduous uphill rides in the Peak District. As Brian, 68, had some time to kill before his train home he popped into a seafront cafe for a meal.

He chained the Specialized Turbo Vado SL eBike in front of the cafe and specifically asked staff for a table outside as he wanted to keep an eye on it. But in the few minutes it took to place his order at the counter a thief used heavy bolt croppers to break the lock and ride off with the bike.

Brian, a retired software architect, believes he must have missed the thief by a few seconds.

Although CCTV cameras picked up the theft, they were not strong enough to be able to identify the offender.

Brian reported the theft to Dorset Police on the train journey home but said it took four days for them to acknowledge it.

He said: ‘I had spent months looking for a particular electric bike for my wife to use.

‘I am a keen cyclist and like to go on rides in the Peak District where there are a lot of hills to climb. My wife and I want to cycle together but she needs an electric bike to help her.

‘I found this second hand bike for sale in Bournemouth for £1,200 and it was perfect.

‘I gave myself a three hour window to buy it and get the train home with it. I was just killing time and took it along the seafront and went to a cafe by the pier to get a meal.

‘I locked it up outside with a quarter of an inch thick steel cable and I went in to order and asked the staff member if I could have a table outside so I could keep an eye on my bike.

‘I was inside for no more than five minutes, probably less.

‘I came out and looked up and did a double take because it wasn’t there. It was hard to believe.’

The theft happened in broad daylight, during the busy holiday season and at one of the most popular locations in the resort for tourists.

Brian said he thinks the person was tooled up and waiting to steal the bike, as they would have needed substantial bolt cutters to break the lock.

He said: ‘This wasn’t just an opportunist thief, this was someone who was almost professional. They must have been looking for an opportunity and had the right equipment on them.

‘They probably came down from London or somewhere and filled up a van with stolen bikes.’

Brian added: ‘I had to run to catch the train in the end and was left £1,200 out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

‘My trip to Bournemouth has left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was not the kind of place I expected this to happen.

‘Part of the reason for sharing my story is that I want to put the word out that there are people in Bournemouth cutting locks.

‘Anything less than a metal chain is not safe for one minute, even the steel cable I had was not enough.’

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: ‘We received a report at 6.57pm on August 20 of a bike theft in the area of Pier Approach in Bournemouth.

‘It was reported to have occurred between 4.45pm and 4.50pm.

‘Officers will be carrying out enquiries into this incident. No arrests have been made.’

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