Dismay turned to joy on Wednesday (June 1) as Bernard Kirby got his bike back.
Thieves took his unique Raleigh Sport bike after breaking into the Nunthorpe Road home of 94-year-old Bernard.
The story was featured on the Bishy Road Facebook page, Minster FM and YorkMix.
It was shared hundreds of times on social media – and so when a man found the precious bike abandoned near his van he knew what to do.
He called Bernard’s friend, independent councillor Johnny Hayes, and soon bike and Bernard were reunited.
“It’s fantastic, I’m absolutely delighted,” Cllr Hayes told David Dunning of Minster FM.
“I think whoever took it decided there’s been so much interest they’ll never get rid of it so they’ve decided to dump it and Bernard’s got his bike back.”
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Bernard built the bike himself. After being demobbed from the RAF at the end of the Second World War he bought the frame from Bob Pexton’s shop for £12.
He then had to wait a couple of weeks to get “all the bits – the mudguards, the wheels and the lot. Within a fortnight I was riding my bike”.
So, as Cllr Hayes says, it’s “a happy end to the story”.