Thieves got much more than they bargained for when they broke into the wrong shop to steal an all-terrain vehicle; the criminals were unaware that the company they stole it from specialised in security tracking devices for vehicles, and one was inside the quad bike.
The bungling burglars had spirited the bike off to Bristol, but police were soon hot on their trail.
Paul Butland, of AP Vehicle Solutions, couldn’t believe how far the thieves went to snatch the ATV. He commented:
“First they had to break into a paddock. Then they had to unscrew the security fence, even though it had special screws to prevent that
“Then they had to remove one of our rental cars to be able to get the thing out of the hole in the fence. Also, the bike had no keys, so they would have had to push it all the way back to their van.”
Butland believes the Polaris RZR800S quad bike was targeted following its recent display at the Hempsted Motorcycle Show.
The bike, which costs nearly £6,500, was recovered intact by Gloucestershire police. A spokesman said:
“Police cars with tracking equipment attended the area and picked up the signal from the stolen vehicle and eventually located it to a van outside a pub in Hallen.”
Tracking devices are becoming more popular with ATV riders, whether they own brand new ATVs or second hand quad bikes, as they are an effective way to track down a stolen vehicle.