In 1981 my Mk 2 Escort was stolen during the night. Reported it the following morning after realising that I hadn't left it anywhere else, and the cops promised to put an all-cars alert on it.

Two weeks later, it was recovered by my girlfriend's dad (his Cortina key fitted my Escort). The thieves had dumped it on a building site a couple of miles away after ripping the shit Harry Moss stereo out. If they had opened the boot, all the new gear was in there waiting to be fitted!

The best bit, though, is that my car had been in full view of EVERY police car going in or out of the then-new Divisional police HQ in Livingston.