Dad turns detective to help police trace stolen bike being sold on website
A father took matters into his own hands to track down his son's stolen bicycle.
Michael Jones' £500 Carrera Sulcata bike was stolen from a friend's house in Walsall last week.
His father Paul claims the police took their time responding to his initial report so he decided to track down the bicycle, which was a 16th birthday present, himself.
After trawling through websites Mr Jones found the green bicycle for sale – recognising it thanks to specific repairs that had been done to it.
Mr Jones then passed the details onto police and officers travelled to Coventry where they retrieved the bicycle.
However, Mr Jones will not be reunited with it until next week.
He said it was crucial he found the bike because Michael uses it to travel to college and 'idolised it'.
The 53-year-old caretaker said: "I phoned the police initially but they didn't seem to want to know.
"When we found it on a buy and sell website, the seller agreed to give it to us and we got his address and then we went to Bloxwich Police station for help to get it back.
"Michael idolised that bike, he would ride it everywhere.
"Without it, it would take him three-quarters of an hour to get to college."
Mr Jones gave the bike to his son for his 16th birthday in April this year.
It cost £340 to buy but needed £160 worth of repairs after an accident, meaning he spent a total of around £500 on it.
The bike was stolen on Saturday (nov 18).
A police spokesman said they are hoping to reunite Mr Jones with the bike as soon as possible – and are still working to identify who stole it.
The spokesman told the Express & Star: "Acting on information provided by the member of the public, our officers have recovered a bike that matches the description of the one reported stolen.
"This has now led to lines of enquiry to try and identify the thief.
"Arrangements are being made for the man to attend a police station to view the bike to determine if it is his – and hopefully we’ll reunite him with it soon."
