A KEEPFIT enthusiast, who watched helplessly as his treasured Mini Cooper was driven off by thieves, has criticised the police.

Service delivery manager Stuart Callaghan said police told him they had "no lines of inquiry" and claimed they took no action three days after the incident, despite being told of CCTV evidence.

Father-of-two Mr Callaghan, 41, of Apperley Bridge, was at Pure Gym, Enterprise 5, at Five Lane Ends, Bradford, last Monday evening.

When he returned to the changing rooms after his workout, and unlocked his locker, he found his car keys were missing, along with a contactless debit card.

He said: "I walked into the main gym area, which is glass-fronted, and I could see my car in the car park. I spoke to a member of staff to see if the keys had been handed in. I was stood at the window when I saw somebody drive off with my car. I just thought, 'oh my God!'"

Mr Callaghan immediately called police to report his graphite grey special edition Mini, with the number plate XX10STU, had been stolen.

He said: "It was my pride and joy. It had cost more than £11,000 and I had just finished paying for it."

That evening, police gave Mr Callaghan a crime number, but he said the next day an officer told him there were no lines of enquiry as the theft happened in a place with no cameras.

The following day he discovered the thieves had driven to the nearby Morrisons store and used his card three times, transactions, including to buy petrol, which was captured on CCTV. He informed police on Wednesday evening.

He added: "I spoke to the gym manager and he said they had identified the suspects from CCTV and they had been banned from the gym. He said he had given their names and addresses to police."

On Thursday, police told Mr Callaghan the information would be sent to a team for evaluation and picked up within 24 hours, but nothing had yet been done

Detective Chief Inspector Terry Long, of Bradford District Police, said: "Initial inquiries were carried out into this incident soon after it was reported, and the victim was informed the following day that it would be difficult to progress any investigation with the information gathered at that time.

"We have now received new information and are currently carrying out further inquiries."

PureGym operations director Laura Fortune said: WWe have provided CCTV footage of the incident to the police and we are assisting them with their ongoing enquiries."