A VICTIM of bike theft has gone round in circles trying catch the thieves after spotting his stolen bike all over town.

Simon May had his mountain bike stolen around four weeks ago, and since then has seen it on five different occasions.

But every time he phones 101 to tell police they respond an hour too late.

“I see it all the time,” said Simon. “But they are not prepared to do anything about it. I’ve done all the leg-work but they haven’t done anything.

“It seems stupid that I can find it and they can’t.”

The £380 bike was stolen from outside Simon’s flat in County Road and is a Diamondback mountain bike.

“It was all secured and locked up, and it’s a flush cut right through the wire cable,” he added.

“It’s like high-vis. I always buy a brightly coloured one so I get some chance of spotting it again.”

The mountain bike has been spotted by Simon parked outside the Pinehurst One Stop Shop, as well as outside the KFC on Cricklade Road.

After phoning 101 and waiting more than a hour for a patrol to respond, the bike, and the thieves, had already made off.

“I thought I might as well become a copper,” said Simon. “They don’t seem to be doing anything.

Simon last saw the bike on Thursday, but resigned himself not even calling it in.

“I would have phoned the police," he added. “But when they take an hour and half, it would have been gone by then. I’m just getting fed up with it. I need that bike for work because at the moment I’m walking.”

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “We have been investigating the theft of a bike.

“There is no CCTV and, although the victim has called us a number of times to report sightings of the stolen bike, we have been unable to locate it so far. Our enquiries are continuing.

“Our advice to anyone who has information about stolen property is that they should call 101. However, due to the high demand on police and our need to prioritise emergency calls, we cannot guarantee that we will get to a location quickly enough to sight the property or a suspect.

“Bike thefts in Swindon are a priority for the local policing team and we know that these types of crimes are frustrating and financially inconvenient for victims. Because of this we have been carrying out extra patrols around the town, particularly in the town centre.”