Classic car fans turn 探偵，刑事 and 跡をつける 負かす／撃墜する 荒廃させるd owner's stolen Citroen 2CV just hours after he 報告（する）／憶測d the 窃盗 on social マスコミ

• e-mail

Classic car fans turned 探偵，刑事 to 位置を示す a stolen Citroen 2CV after the 荒廃させるd owner について言及するd the 窃盗 on social マスコミ.

'Heartbroken' Ben Heywood 発表するd the loss on a 地元の WhatsApp group for aficionados of the idiosyncratic French car just to vent his 失望／欲求不満.

They 反応するd by putting out the word that it had been taken and within hours it was spotted after some took to the streets of Norwich where Mr Heywood lives.

The に引き続いて day the car was 回復するd and a teenage 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う 逮捕（する）d.

'Overjoyed' Mr?Heywood, who had to travel abroad on 商売／仕事 the day he discovered the 窃盗, said: 'When it happened, I put a 地位，任命する on our group 説 my car had been stolen. I wasn't even asking for sympathy, just to let them know.

Ben Heywood, pictured, 発表するd the loss of his stolen Citroen 2CV classic car

'While I was travelling to Stansted Airport, they took it and ran with it and 今後d it to every 2CV group they could find.

'It spread incredibly quickly to the point where, by the time I'd reached my airport hotel, there had already been a sighting.

'I fed that 支援する to Norfolk Police who were 絶対 amazing. They said they had cameras looking for the number plate. Half an hour after I landed in Montenegro I got a call from them 説 they'd got it.

'A 16-year-old lad had hotwired it and taken it for a joyride and then left it somewhere.'

The 実業家, who runs two 会社／堅いs 申し込む／申し出ing activity holidays in Montenegro and the Balkans, said his father and grandfather had owned 2CVs and he bought the burgundy 1987 model as a 扱う／治療する for his 50th birthday in December.

'They're a very peculiar little car and they're not to everyone's taste but they get under your 肌. They've got personalities,' said the married father-of-three.

'When I turned 50 I thought I'd indulge myself and get one. Some people want a Ferrari, I just 手配中の，お尋ね者 a 2CV.

'So I was heartbroken when I noticed it had gone from outside my house and I was overjoyed to hear it was 支援する.'

He 認める stealing a 2CV for 申し立てられた／疑わしい joyriding was unusual because they 'do 0-60mph in never and 扱うing is all over the place because they have such soft 中断'.

After reaching out to a 地元の WhatsApp group, the car was amazingly 回復するd the に引き続いて day

The public-spirited search for the car was 開始する，打ち上げるd after he 発表するd its 窃盗 at on Saturday morning. It was 回復するd the に引き続いて day after members of Broadland Ducks 2CV Club 攻撃する，衝突する the streets of Norwich in support of their comrade.

Chris Farnham, 66, from the group, said: 'We're a 公正に／かなり の近くに-knit community of 熱中している人s and know how precious the cars are and how painful if was for Ben to lose his.

'We 地位，任命するd it on our Facebook page, Broadland Ducks Duluxe, and one of our members saw the car 存在 driven.

'He phoned me and I put the word out that he'd seen it and other people started looking for it. The police 設立する it the に引き続いて morning.'

The sighting was important, Mr Farnham explained, because it showed it had not been 取り去る／解体するd and lost forever.

'They tend to get put in a lockup somewhere and stripped for parts, so we were やめる relieved it was 存在 driven,' said the 農業者, who 現在／一般に owns two 2CVs.

Mr Heywood hasn't been able to 検査／視察する the car as he remains abroad but understands there is only 極小の 損失.

'Other than the hotwiring, there's no physical 損失 outside the car,' he said.

'I'll have to check the gearbox because it may have been crunched but I'm just glad to have it 支援する in reasonable 条件.'

Norfolk Police said: 'The 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う, a teenage boy, has now been 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d with 窃盗. He is 予定 to appear at Norwich 治安判事s Cour t.'