Leeds scaffolder finds stolen truck within the hour thanks to hidden AirTag tracker

Paul Conway's stolen truck was soon found thanks to a tracking gadget

A scaffolder from Farsley managed to track down his stolen truck in less than an hour thanks to a Christmas present from his wife.

Paul Conway was left "shocked" when a colleague at Farsley Scaffolding informed him his truck had been stolen from an address in Pudsey on Monday.

The keys were still in the ignition when thieves jumped into the driver's seat and made off, he said.

But the truck had a tracking AirTag under a seat and it was soon recovered.

Mr Conway said a fellow scaffolder had left his truck running while he fetched hot water to defrost the windows - and thieves were quick to take advantage.

'Pride and joy'

He recalled his shock at finding out his "pride and joy" Nissan Pathfinder had been taken from his colleague's address.

He said: "I was shocked but then I remembered I had placed an AirTag key fob under the rear seats.

"I had got a pack of them from my wife as a Christmas present.

"We were able to follow the truck while my colleague was on the phone to the police and saw it en route to Bradford.

"I would have been devastated as with the keys in the ignition, insurance wouldn't have covered it. The truck was taken at 06:50 GMT and we had it back before 08:00."

Mr Conway, 46, was able to follow the truck all the way to a Bradford street where it had been dumped.

Assisted by West Yorkshire Police, he was able to recover the truck and return to work.

West Yorkshire Police said: "Police received a report that a vehicle had been taken without its owner's consent from an address at Wesley Road, Pudsey, shortly before 07:00 GMT Monday 4 March.

"The vehicle was located a short while later on Botany Road, Bradford.

"No suspect has been identified."