GAZETTE & HERALD: WELDER Steve Walker worked double shifts for months and cashed in his wife's motorbike to buy his dream motorcycle, but it was stolen the day after he got it.

Mr Walker, 39, who has been riding motorbikes for 20 years, said he bought his new £3,000 Honda XR 400 in London and rode it for the first time to work at Staub Engineering, in Bumpers Farm, Chippenham.

But when he looked at lunchtime to make sure the motorcycle was all right, it had disappeared.

"I am absolutely gutted," Mr Walker, of Lowden, Chippenham, said. "I'd only just bought the thing."

"We have gone without to pay for that bike and saved really hard to get the money."

The father-of-three, who had only been working at the Chippenham firm for a week, said witnesses from the business next door saw two men push the bike into a white Transit van, just minutes before he went outside to check it was safe.

He immediately rang the police on his mobile telephone and explained what had happened.

"I have been thinking about offering a reward for any information leading to its return," he said.

"I have wanted that bike for a long time, almost a year.

"All my friends already have this type of bike, which they ride when they go off-roading together, and I was looking forward to going with them.

"I have been working overtime for months to pay for the extra money.

"But I don't hold much chance of getting it back. I just think what the thieves did was really cheeky."

The motorcycle, pictured below, was red, registration number V503 NOH, with an Acerbis tool bag.

Anyone with any information should telephone Mr Walker on (01249) 443842.