A man has praised the power of social media after it led to his motorbike being recovered just hours after it was stolen.

Stephen Rodgers, who lives on Icen Way in Dorchester, discovered that his 1972 Honda CB500F had been stolen when he left his house on Friday, October 19.

Mr Rodgers said the bike is worth around £4,000 and is his 'only prized possession', so he had a shock when a woman got in contact later that same day to say she had spotted his bike in a car park.

He said: "I blasted Facebook with pictures and pleas, and a retired lady in Culliford Court retirement home reached out to me through messenger to say there was a bike like mine in their car park with its number plate poked into the hedge.

"I have absolutely no idea how the news reached her, but I'm going to get her some flowers to say thank you.

"The bike is now locked up in a friend's yard."

Mr Rodgers has had the bike for five years, and said aside from a paint job last year it is "a classic and completely original."

Speaking to the Echo on Friday, before the bike was found, he said: "It had been parked under an archway on Icen Way for a long time, opposite La Caverna restaurant. I had put a cover over it which I think must have made it more attractive to thieves.

“It was in a very restricted space and those bikes are old and heavy. Two very strong people would have had to lift it, they wouldn’t have just been able to wheel it away because of the wheel and chain."

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they received a call at 12.54pm on Friday (19) reporting the theft of a brown and black Honda motorcycle in Icen Way.

The spokesman said: "We received a report that the bike had been recovered from a car park near to the location it was stolen from with damage caused to the ignition.

"Officers have carried out a number of enquiries into the theft, including house-to-house and a review of CCTV footage, and the investigation is continuing. No arrests have been made at this stage."