A FATHER-of-two whose treasured vintage tractor was stolen not once, but twice from the same street, is desperate to be reunited with his beloved machine.

Jamie Preece had used the 40-year-old Wheelhorse tractor to rotavate some ground in preparation for seeding a lawn at a friend’s house on Goose Green in Yate.

He had left it there to pick up at a later date but the distinctive little tractor was stolen from the driveway in the early hours of Sunday, November 8.

Thought to have been taken by teenagers for a very slow joyride, CCTV from a neighbouring property captured two men dumping the tractor on a driveway at 1.23am.

Two police officers who attended reports of an abandoned vehicle then moved it to the side of the road where it remained for more than a day and was sighted by numerous people. The tractor is then believed to have been moved onto another driveway by a window cleaner carrying out work in the area before it was stolen for a second time.

Mr Preece, of south Yate, was unaware that his much-loved vehicle had been taken until it disappeared again.

“I would desperately like to find it,” said Mr Preece, 37, who restores vintage machinery and takes them steam fairs.

“We have been trying through Facebook to trace it and although lots of people saw it before it was taken the second time, no-one has seen it since.”

He added: “It is a dear little tractor and gets a lot of attention whenever I take it out.

“I bought it eight years ago when it was non-running and looked in a pretty sorry state. Mechanically I restored it and added a rotavator.

“It is only 40 years old so I was dubious about taking it to steam fairs to display but it gets more attention than any of the other vehicles I take, some of which are 110-years-old.”

Mr Preece, who has informed police of the theft, also uses the tractor to give his two children Chloe, 7, and Jenson, 4, rides at their birthday parties in a custom-made trailer.

“I don’t think I can do much more to find it,” he said. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, I just dearly want it back.”

Anyone who has seen the tractor is asked to call Mr Preece on 07748 250954.