A THIEF stole a lifeboat crewman’s bike while he was out on an emergency ‘shout.’

Alastair Heane, 47, is from Falmouth but is currently in Weymouth on relief for the RNLI.

He raced from his house to Weymouth lifeboat station at around 12.45am this morning to assist with the emergency shout. He left his black mountain bike outside the station on Nothe Parade while he and the Weymouth team helped with a report of a man suspected to be in the water in Weymouth harbour.

Mr Heane said the thief stole the bike at around 1.45am and CCTV showed the perpetrator riding off towards Stone Pier.

A few minutes later Mr Heane realised it was missing and a search was done of the area, but the bike was not discovered.

Mr Heane is the mechanic for the lifeboat, he said he used the bike to get quickly to the station on ‘shouts’ and the theft had now limited how quickly he could get there.

He said he was a little ‘fed up.’ He said: “It’s just quite sad to think someone took it.”

Dorset Police are investigating the theft. Officers said the incident is not linked to an alleged assault earlier in the evening where a man evaded capture.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “We had a report that between 2am-2.50am an Orange G2 mountain bike, colour black, was taken from outside the RNLI lifeboat station at Nothe Parade.

“It was stolen while the owner was on an emergency shout.”

Witness and anyone with information about the bike are urged to call Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 19:29.