Three German tourists have spoken of a heartbreaking ordeal after two of their motorbikes were stolen from outside of their Edinburgh hotel.
Best friends Patric Krämer and Jürgen Hinkel, from Karlsruhe, travelled to Scotland on a dream holiday along with Patric’s girlfriend Bianca Bittmann.
The keen 60-year-old bikers say that they invested a lot of money into the trip but were left absolutely devastated after their BMW 1200 GS Adventure and Triumph Tiger 800 were stolen from outside of the Rosehall Hotel on Dalkeith Road.
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The thefts took place on May 16 and the trio have said that they have since been told by fellow bikers back in Edinburgh that one of their vehicles is being sold on TikTok.
“We went out to pack our baggage onto the bikes outside of our hotel at around 7am on May 16 but when we arrived at the parking spaces neither of them were there,” Bianca said.
“The First is a BMW 1200 GS Adventure and the second is a Triumph Tiger 800.
“We planned this trip to tour around Scotland for over a year and invested a lot of money into it from our clothes, to navigation cards, fitting the bikes with new wheels and other items.
“We booked hotels for 13 days but were unable to complete the trip due to the theft, we had to head for the ferry with our dream finished for a long time.
“My partner cannot afford to get a new one and this now has a massive impact on his life back in Germany as motorbiking with his friends is his hobby.
“Jürgen also said that he now is too fearful to go on another trip to other European countries and it will be a long time before he can buy a new bike.
“Scotland is such a beautiful country with so many good people so it is really bad that this happened to us and many Scots commented on how terrible bike thefts are in Edinburgh.
“Many people have offered to help us and even offered for us to go and stay with them but we decided that we had to end what would have been such a wonderful trip.”
Bianca said that fellow bikers in Edinburgh had shared pictures of what they believed to be their Triumph which was stolen.
She confirmed that the picture shared with her was in fact the stolen bike.
“We have seen videos and pictures now on TikTok of the stolen bike and people from Edinburgh are trying to keep us updated.
“One positive from this whole ordeal was that the airport waived our €400 baggage fee at the airport when we told them what had happened.”
A Police Scotland Spokesperson said: “Around 8.50am on Tuesday, 16 May, 2023, officers received a report of the theft of two motorbikes from Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh.
“Enquiries are ongoing.”
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