A businessman who had a £10,000 sports car stolen from his dealership has spoken of his relief that the car had been found.
Gordon Leslie, who owns and runs Carnoustie Sports Cars on Barry Road, arrived at work at 9.30am on Tuesday to find the black BMW M3 coupe missing — and both sets of keys for the car still in his safe.
Police confirmed on Thursday that the car had been traced after Gordon remotely re-activated the car’s built-in tracker.
Gordon said: “Re-activating the tracker was expensive but at the end of the day the car has been found.”
The car was traced to somewhere in Edinburgh and Gordon received a call from officers on Thursday to say it had been located.
The car appeared to be undamaged — with the thieves nowhere to be found. Gordon joked: “As far as I know there was nobody with the car.
“It was found on its own.
“The police are looking at CCTV to figure out if the thieves managed to get a key cut somehow, or if it was on the back of a lorry.
“But we still don’t know how they did it.”
Gordon was left mystified by how thieves had made off with the car, which had been for sale.
The businessman believed they might have used a lorry with a crane fitted to the back.
He added: “I had just come into work on Tuesday morning and there was a space on the lot and the gate was half open.
“How the thieves got it out is quite a mystery.
“I have got both keys in the safe, and I’ve spoken to BMW UK — they have a note of any extra keys that someone has asked for. They didn’t have anything.
“The steering lock was on too.
“We’re bemused about how they removed it.
“They could have gotten a lorry with a crane on the back or something — it’s not impossible.”
The tracker fitted to the car had pinged radio masts as far away as Kirkcaldy before the vehicle was recovered.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Police Scotland can confirm that a black BMW that was stolen from a compound at Carnoustie Sports Cars in Barry Road, Carnoustie, has now been traced.”