Thieves make off with £17k Audi after duping owner during test drive

Tony Cheema, a 43-year-old project manager from Castlecroft, was selling his car - a black Audi A5 coupé, at his parents house in Finchfield.

He had listed the car, which cost him £17,000, in Autotrader three weeks ago and on Thursday at 2.45pm was visited by a man and a woman, who were dropped off by a red Honda Jazz.

He took the pair out for a test drive in the two-door coupé and during the ride, the woman, sat in the back of the car, seemed to become ill.

Tony said: "The woman appeared to be pregnant, although I'm not sure whether she was. We were on the way back from the drive and she started to retch.

"Her partner said 'I've got to stop, I've got to stop, get some tissues'. I said that we were almost home and we should go there to help her.

"We pulled up and I got out the passenger side, leaving the door open. As soon as I go out, they drove off really fast while the door was wide open."

The thieves sped off in the car, driving on to Compton Road before disappearing out of sight.

Tony said: "I can't believe it. My first reaction was total shock, you don't expect anything like that to happen to you.

"I immediately went into the house to call the police."

Tony was selling the car as he had just purchased a new vehicle for work. CCTV captured the moment the thieves got away.

Tony said: "I approached neighbours for their CCTV footage and you can see the thieves go off in the car along Compton Road.

"I just hope the police are able to track them down."

Tony added an undisclosed reward will be offered if it leads to him receiving his car back in one piece.

Sergeant Mike Sanders from the Investigation Team at Wolverhampton Police, said: “It’s understood the victim placed his black Audi A5 TDI coupe for sale on Autotrader and that a man and woman got in touch purporting to be potential buyers.

"They arrived on Thursday afternoon (29 June) and asked to go on a test drive − but when they returned and pulled up outside the man’s house the male offender sped off with the woman in the back seats.

“The man is described as Asian, thin and around 5ft 9in tall, the woman is said to be black, slightly smaller and of medium build.

"CCTV has been examined and other lines of enquiry are being progressed."

Anyone who believes they may have seen the car – registration number KS12 OHK – is asked to call police on 101 (ext 871 3334)