Musselburgh’s magnet fisherman James Pearson has reunited a delighted owner with her stolen electric bike, which he retrieved from the River Esk.
He went to the rescue after being contacted by a member of the public via social media with a report of a bike in the water at Goosegreen.
Mr Pearson told the Courier: “I headed down and managed to retrieve the bike plus an electric grass strimmer.”
A former pupil of Musselburgh Burgh Primary School and Musselburgh Grammar School, Mr Pearson set up Magnet Fishing Musselburgh to clear local waterways of metal objects.
He hopes to remove objects that would cause harm to local wildlife in the River Esk, such as shopping trolleys, bikes, scooters and other metal debris.
Mr Pearson, of Kilwinning Terrace, a hire desk controller for a plant hire company, explained that magnet fishing was tying a high-powered magnet onto a rope and throwing it into a body of water to remove metallic items.
He said: “This was my first electric bike but I’ve had a couple of electric scooters, lots of normal bikes and scooters.”
Keen to find the owner of the bike, Mr Pearson posted news of its discovery on his Facebook page Musselburgh Magnet Fishing and a couple of community social media networks. He was delighted to hear from the owner’s neighbours, then from the owner herself, who noticed that her bike was missing from her home when she returned from holiday.
The bike was bought for her by her employer at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic for travelling to work in the Craigmillar area of Edinburgh, so reducing the need to use public transport, and she uses it to get around Musselburgh for shopping.
The owner of the bike, who lives in Musselburgh and did not want to be named, said: “I had been out of the country on vacation and only noticed my bike was missing when I got back.
“It had been locked to the railing of the staircase in the house I’m living in. From the looks of it, someone noticed it in there, got into the staircase and cut the wire chain I used to secure it to the railing but couldn’t manage to break the d-lock that secured the front tyre. They took the bike, lock and all, and, when they failed to break the lock, seemingly decided to dump it into the river rather than return it.”
She explained that the framework of the bike seemed to be intact and the bike chain was also in good condition.
She added: “However, the water did extensive damage to the battery pack and I don’t know if the motor was affected too. I will take it in to have it looked at by an expert and they will hopefully be able to tell me if my bike is salvageable. I really hope it is, I love my bike, as it affords me a certain freedom while getting around in the city – not to mention it cuts my work commute time in half compared to riding the bus.
“Regardless of whether it can be saved or repaired, I am glad to have it back. I’m so very grateful to James for finding and returning it. It really means a lot to me.
"I think he and his group of magnet fishers are doing a really valuable job for this community.”
The magnet fisherman also managed to find a set of keys lost when their owner Veronika Baxter fell into the canal last week.
James and friend Graham McShane spotted Ms Baxter’s online plea for help and, after searching the canal with their magnets, the pair eventually brought the set of keys to the surface and handed them back to their relieved owner.
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