A pensioner had his car stolen twice in the space of just 24 hours. Simon Perfitt described the entire situation as 'stressful' and says it ruined his birthday celebrations.
Mr Perfitt woke up to find his £4,000 Fiat 500 missing from outside his home. It was taken on the morning of his birthday.
He found it abandoned a few roads away some hours later. It was outside a bus stop, with its door open and lights on, Birmingham Live reports.
Mr Perfitt contacted West Midlands Police who came and carried out forensic tests on the car. But he was shocked to be awoken the the next night, on Monday, June 6, by his car being stolen again from outside his home.
This time it has gone missing for good and Mr Perfitt believes the thieves came back for it. He told BlackCountryLive: "It ruined my birthday, it made it a very stressful weekend, being constantly on the phone to the police.
"I was shocked the first time but even more shocked the second time. It is a quiet area." Recalling the first time his red car was stolen, Mr Perfitt said: "That night was pouring with rain, my car was parked right outside of my house, I have got a camera pointing at it.
"Maybe because of the rain, it didn't record anything. I woke up and it wasn't there.
"A friend of mine saw it down the road. It was right next to the bus stop sign.
"The door was open, and it had been raining, so the driver's seat was wet." On each occasion, the car was stolen without thieves gaining hold of his keys.
Mr Perfitt said: "The second time, I almost saw it happen. I was awake, it was about 4am, and I was looking at the news.
"Then I heard the camera send a ping, like an alarm, saying there was movement outside. I looked outside and it recorded a four-wheel-drive, like a Jeep, driving quite fast up the road.
"Then I decided to look at the live camera and I could see the car had moved from where it was and it was being driven out of the road, followed by this four-wheel-drive Jeep thing.
"Straight away I dialed 999 and said 'I can see my car being stolen right now'. Apparently there was several vehicles in the area and they were going to try and catch them'."
However Mr Perfitt has not heard of any updates. His car is coloured red, with the registration KP59 GXL. It also has a soft top.
CCTV from his home captured his Fiat being driven away at around 5am.
In response to the story, a West Midlands Police spokesperson said: "We can confirm this was reported to us. Anyone with information can contact us via Live Chat on our website or by calling 101, quoting crime ref 20/527888/22."
