A woman was reunited with her stolen ebike this week thanks to a sharp-eyed shopkeeper and a police officer who put them in touch.
Lesley Fairbairn locked up her bike on the corner of Upper Gloucester Road and Surrey Street while she went for a quick half at the Evening Star after choir practice on 11 September.
But it was soon stolen, and only the quick-thinking of shopkeeper Hayri Bozkurt from the nearby Upper Local Store stopped it being taken for good.
He interrupted the thief, who had dumped the bike in the shop’s back yard, and after a few weeks of failing to tack down its owner himself, called Sussex Police.
A detective looked on the system, found Lesley’s report – and on Wednesday she was able to go and pick it up.
Lesley said: “I think it was dumped behind the shop the same evening the thief stole it. Apparently he put another bike there too. So I guess he was planning to come back and get them.
“When I went to the shop to see if the bike was mine, I observed how Hayri communicates with his customers, asked how they were, had a chat. He told me he hates to see bikes getting stolen.
“The return of this bike means so much to me. I was totally amazed to hear from the police, and even more amazed to discover when I went to the shop that it was indeed my bike.”
Hayri said he’d been checking CCTV when he saw a man with his face covered who was dumping the bike in his back yard. He said: “I went outside and he was riding another bike so I asked him what’s going on, and he rode away.
“I took Lesley’s bike and put it inside my shop and asked all my customers if they had lost any bike and nobody said yes.”
Eventually, he contacted the police, who initially suggested putting an appeal on Facebook.
He said: “I don’t want to do that because it’s an expensive bike and someone will just say it’s mine. So she called me back and said one lady has lost her bike, shall I give her your details?”
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “We’re so pleased this stolen bike was returned to its rightful owner and would like to thank the member of the public who found it for their vigilance and honesty.
“This happy ending highlights how important it is for people to report crimes to police so information can be recorded and followed up on.”
This isn’t the first time something valuable has been left at Hayri’s shop. In 2007, someone left a cheque for £165,000 and other bank documents in a bag there. After Hayri tracked them down via their accountants, they bought him a TV to say thanks.
