Brazen thieves smashed their way into a van and stole a mountain bike worth £2,500 - leaving the owner without it for a big race the following morning.
Matthew Hart’s white Vauxhall van was targeted by yobs in Edinburgh overnight between Saturday and Sunday and local CCTV captures two suspects cycling in the street around 11.25pm on Saturday.
The culprits used a transparent glove - similar to those now provided at petrol stations - filled with stones to smash the window of the van and left it behind at the scene in Leith’s Giles Street.
Mr Hart, 35, told the Record he was heading out to his van on Sunday morning to go to a gravel bike race in the Pentlands when he discovered the broken window and missing bike, which he had bought during lockdown.
He said: “It’s upsetting. It’s not just about the money but it’s the fact people are going through my van and taking my things, it’s not a nice feeling.
“It was 8am on Sunday morning and I was going to a bike race and was going to cycle up to the start of the race and noticed the van had been broken into.
“The frame of the window and some clear gloves with stones inside them were lying there. There were two bikes in there and one was stolen.”
CCTV footage in the area shows two suspects cycling along Giles Street late on Saturday night but the theft itself is not captured on camera.
The stolen bike is a Giant Anthem worth £2,500 and is red and black in colour.
Mr Hart, who works as a project manager, said his bad luck continued on Monday when a car hit the back of his other bike in Balerno as he returned from a cycle in the Pentlands.
Police officers have been to take DNA samples from the scene in the hope those responsible can be tacked down.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report around 8.40am on Sunday, 21 November that a van was broken into and a bike stolen from within at a property on Giles Street, Edinburgh.
“Enquiries are at an early stage and ongoing.”
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