Teen devastated after theft of second moped

Daniel, 16, left the black Peugeot V-Clip 50cc machine in the Regis Centre car park on Monday, July 27.

He returned two hours later to find it had been taken in spite of being padlocked and its steering locked. It is the second theft to hit Daniel in eight months.

He said he was devastated by the latest crime. "I only had the moped for three days and I'm now stuck with no transport," he explained.

"I worked really hard to save up the money for the moped and now I'm left with nothing.

"I can't believe my moped was stolen in the middle of the day in a car park which was full with people going in and out every couple of seconds.

"I'm going to college in September to start a two-year public service course and I'm now going to have to use public transport to get there.

"It cost me about 6 to fill the moped's tank up and that would last me three to four days going to Chichester and back. It will now cost me that a day to get there."

Daniel, of Brickfield Close, found out he has a 500 excess on his insurance policy to mean his payout will be nowhere near enough to buy a new moped.

As well as the moped, he also paid for a licence, for his test and for the helmet and gloves to kit himself out.

"I worked in McDonalds for three to four months '“ seven days a week at times '“ to save up the money for the moped. I used every penny I had.

"But I'm only going to get between 100-500 from the insurance," he explained. "I can't get another bike with that. I just can't go to the bank and get enough money out either."

Daniel's first theft occurred on last year's Remembrance Sunday after he chained his mountain bike to a lamppost outside Bognor fire station from where he travelled to the annual service.

He has since gone on to become a fire cadet supervisor on his way to a hoped-for career as a firefighter.

He bought the moped from a friend who had purchased it new but lost the confidence to ride it after a slight accident three months later.

* Daniel has reported his moped's theft to the police. The CCTV coverage of the car park was unable to show details of the theft.

Police officers will be keeping watch for the moped which had the registration number HX09 DNF.

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