AN 18-year-old says he is gutted' after having two of his beloved motorbikes stolen in the space of 18 months.

David Gardner, of Ryan Avenue, Chippenham, had saved up enough money by refurbishing old motorbikes and selling them on to buy a new Kawasaki KMX for £1,200 just two months ago.

But when he finished work at Bumpers Farm at around 4pm on July 4 and went to get on his bike and ride home, he found it had been stolen.

It was a double blow for David as his first bike, a £1,000 Benelli scooter, which was a 16th birthday present from his dad, was stolen on Christmas Day, 2004 and found nine months later dumped in the River Avon.

David's father, also named David, 54, said: "He could not claim for this on insurance because it was far too expensive to go for third party fire and theft, so he just had third party insurance."

After the scooter was stolen, David Jnr set about working at Ryzex in Bumpers Farm as a refurbishment technician to save up enough money to buy a new bike.

He also bought himself a series of old motorbikes and refurbished them, travelling as far as Manchester and Dover to buy spare parts, and then sold them for a profit.

David Snr, said: "As you can imagine he is very upset and wandering around in a daze.

"He had locked it up and put on a chain but all to no avail and as before it was only insured third party as third party fire and theft was over £800."

David Jnr now has to get lifts into work from his father and only gets to see some of his friends in Trowbridge if he can get a bus.

David Jnr said: "I used to go riding my motorbike out with my cousins and go scrambling up in Box Woods and all over the place.

"I don't know what I'm going to do now I was looking into getting a car but that's way too expensive."

He said he has no idea who would have stolen the bike, but it is registered as stolen with the DVLA so he thinks someone will just take it out scrambling.

He said: "I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to sell it. It'll be stripped down or they'll just run it into the ground and then dump it."

The family have put pictures of the bike up on the internet and have had messages of support from members of the motorbiking community. For now they just hope the bike will be found in good condition.

Anyone with information should call Chippenham police on 0845 4087000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.