A young couple have spoken of their anger after retrieving a stolen motorbike that had been "absolutely trashed."
Lewis Shipman, 19, parked his motorbike in Hodgkinson Road car park as he made his way to a local Chinese takeaway to get some food.
Lewis, along with his partner Ashleigh Walters, 20, spent around 15 minutes in the shop before leaving to find that their Yamaha WR125 had been stolen.
The pair said that they locked the bike and had not been worried about it being stolen.
After reporting the incident to Nottinghamshire police the couple walked around the local area to try and spot it, with little luck.
Fortunately, after posting for help on Facebook, Ashleigh received a call the next morning to say that somebody had spotted some kids dragging the bike through a park.
Ashleigh's dad managed to locate the bike, which had been "smashed in the woods", and returned it to Lewis.
The couple have since spoken out about the incident.
Ashleigh, who lives in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, said: “We just parked it up in Kirkby outside the leisure centre thinking it was safe.
“We nipped in to the Chinese to grab the food and it was gone – quick job.
“We left my house in Kirkby and we were going to my partner's house in Selston.
“We parked up, went across the road to the bank to draw some money out and went and sat in the Chinese.
“We must’ve been in there for about 15 minutes, if that, and it was gone when we came back.
“We thought we’d have a little walk round to see if we could see anyone pushing it because it’s a really heavy bike.
“Kids can be known for pinching stuff but all the locks were on we didn’t think that anyone would try it.
“We had a look round and we couldn’t see anything so we kind of just stood there gormless thinking ‘what do we do now?’”
“That's when we rang the police."
The couple said they posted about their experience on social media and someone got in touch saying they had seen the bike. Unfortunately it was seriously damaged.
While the couple are happy to have found the vehicle, Lewis shared his disappointment at the state of his bike and the money that it will cost to have it repaired.
Lewis, who lives in Selston, said: “It’s not driveable – not one bit.
“If I took that out on the road and the police saw me it would be game over.
“It’s going to be in the process of repairing but it’s going to cost me a fair bit.
“That’s the only way of me getting to work and back.
Ashleigh added: “It was only a few weeks ago that someone’s bike got nicked outside the paper shop, and that’s literally round the corner from where his bike got nicked
“You never expect it to happen to you, do you?"
Nottinghamshire Police say that the local beat team will help the couple.
Sergeant Olivia West, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We are investigating a report of motorbike stolen from an address in Tennyson Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, on Friday night (4 February 2022).
“It was later reported the victims had found the bike damaged in woodland. We have spoken to the victims and the local beat team will work with them to identify the suspects responsible.”
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