A YOUNG motorbike enthusiast has had her pride and joy stolen and written off – before she had chance to ride it.

The rare Honda CB400 Super 4 machine, worth around £5,000, had been given to 25-year-old Ava Midgley by her uncle, and she had been looking forward to riding it when she had passed her full test.

But her dreams have been dashed after the bike was stolen from her garage, at the back of her home in Hillary Road, Wrose.

Miss Midgley, who works with adults with learning difficulties, told how the motorcycle was wrecked when the rider crashed head-on into a car. He fled on foot, leaving his helmet behind at the scene.

She said the motorbike had been hidden under tarpaulin in the garage behind her garden, but thieves had snapped off the steering lock, hot-wired the machine and ridden off.

Miss Midgley discovered the bike had gone as she left for work on the morning of Wednesday, July 13, and reported it to police.

Later that day she had a call from a friend, who had spotted two young men sitting on her motorbike outside shops in Harrogate Road, Fagley.

After alerting police, she rushed to the scene but the bike had been driven off. Soon afterwards it was involved in a crash in Leeds Old Road, close to Thornbury roundabout.

Miss Midgley said: “My friend had followed and saw it happen. He said the bike went head-on into a car at the side of the road.

“The rider came off the bike. He took his helmet off and stumbled away. Somebody tried to stop him but he was able to get away. He left the black helmet at the scene and my bike was smashed up. I have been told it is a write-off.”

Miss Midgley said thieves had taken other bikes from her previously and she feared she was being targeted. “It’s scary. I am upset that I never got to ride the bike. I have lost faith in people,” she said.

A spokesman for Bradford Police said: “The bike is believed to have been involved in a damage-only collision with a blue Lexus car on the Leeds Old Road, Bradford. The rider, who was wearing jeans and a tracksuit top, is thought to have left the scene on foot. The bike is also thought to have been involved in a make-off-without-payment incident at the Sainsbury’s garage in Harrogate Road, Bradford.”

Any information should be passed on to PC 3886 Hayman on 101.