A bold-as-brass thief pinched a bicycle before riding off on it despite a man giving chase on foot to try and catch him.
The hi-vis jacket crook was spotted fiddling with the lock on the blue mountain bike in a car park.
He was confronted by a suspicious woman who questioned if it was his.
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But the man just brazenly said she would have to take his “word” for it.
However, he took the bike and was then chased off down the road.
It happened at 5pm on Friday (11 Oct) in Wanstead Park Road, Wanstead, East London.
When quizzed about what he was doing, the thief said: “I understand that.
“I was waiting for someone to come down.”
The inquisitive woman filmed him on her mobile phone in a 12-second video.
She probed: “So how do we know that that’s your bike?”
He replied: “Well you are going to have to take my word for it.”
The crook was then captured on CCTV of a house in the street pedalling off on it.
The five-second clip shows the man pursuing him on foot.
Locals reacted with anger at the bold theft, as reported on NeedToKnow.
Matt Smith fumed: “Instead of filming it, grab his bag and smack him over the head with it.
“Then throw it across the road.”
Another, a cabbie, echoed this adding: “Why film it?
“Kick him in the b*llocks.”
The Met Police has been approached for comment.
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