A mother has expressed her delight at being reunited with her one-of-a-kind bicycle thanks to the intervention of two makeshift crime fighters.

Ipswich Star: Agnes Matthews, five, sitting on the specially-adapted bicycle.Agnes Matthews, five, sitting on the specially-adapted bicycle. (Image: Archant)

Anna Matthews, owner of La Tour Cycle Café in Ipswich, put an appeal on Facebook on Monday night after her specially-customised bike was stolen from outside her home in the town’s Norwich Road.

The family do not have a car and Mrs Matthews uses the bicycle to get to work, buy her groceries and to take her five-year-old daughter Agnes to and from St Helen’s Primary School on a platform installed on the back.

Yesterday lunchtime an eagle-eyed member of public who had seen the plea on social media spotted the distinctive bike being used by a group of boys in the town centre. He challenged one of the youngsters who said the bicycle belonged to his grandfather.

Minutes later a friend of Mrs Matthews who was on her lunch break from work came across the bicycle dumped on the pavement and quickly returned it to the cycle café.

“We gave her a good cheer, the whole café roared,” said Mrs Matthews, who is fondly known as a stalwart to her community, campaigning for local issues and offering support to church and charitable groups.

“I’m just overjoyed to have it back. I feel so emotional because that’s how I do my shopping and how I get Agnes to school. It’s more personal than a car.”

This is not the first time Mrs Matthews has felt the impact of crime.

The cycle café has been targeted by vandals three times this year – with a break-in, theft of a bicycle and damage to another bicycle.