A PENSIONER whose new scooter was stolen from outside his apartment said he had been left unable to enjoy his life.

Alan Hargreaves spent just over £2,000 on the 125cc Piaggio Fly two weeks ago to help him travel around Lancashire and enjoy his passion of fishing.

But two hooded thieves stole the bike from a shed outside his apartment in Willow Gardens, Union Street, Darwen, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Having failed to get it started, they dumped it in a nearby brook.

Mr Hargreaves, 67, said: “It’s ruined my life at the moment because I can’t get out anymore.

“I bought the bike so I could travel to lakes to go fishing, to places where you can’t get on public transport, but now I’m stuck here.

“I can’t believe anything like this would happen. It makes me feel sick.”

Mr Hargreaves, a former match fisherman in Ireland, also ran a tackle shop. He worked in security before retiring seven years ago.

He said the thieves had been caught on CCTV but had covered their faces. Footage showed them entering the unlocked shed at 4.20am, before disappearing to get bolt cutters and returning to free the bike from its lock.

“They wheeled the bike away,” said Mr Hargreaves. “But it’s got a steering lock on it so they couldn’t get started and have obviously just dumped it in the water.

“I do voluntary work at Aldridge Community Academy and on Tuesday morning I went there and didn’t check on the bike. It was only when I got back that I was told it had been stolen, and when I went to the police station to see what was going on it was being fished out of the water. It’s a complete write-off, though.

"It’s taken too much water on, so it’s in the hands of the insurance company now.

“It’s unbelievable that I’m out doing voluntary work and people are stealing from me.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said they couldn’t find the log of the incident, and urged people to report crime if they hadn’t already done so.

He said: “We understand that it can be difficult to report an incident, but we encourage people to do so to enable us to solve crimes and help prevent future crime from happening.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101.