A NURSE has been left struggling to get to work after her "sentimental" £2,500 e-bike was cruelly snatched from outside a fast-food restaurant.

Jo Pearson, 46, had stopped off at McDonald’s, in Cowdray Avenue, Colchester on the way home from the city centre shortly before 10pm on Monday evening.

After securing her bright red Specialized Turbo Como 3.0 with a kryptonite D-lock, Miss Pearson went inside the food chain for ten minutes.

When she went back outside, she was left shocked to see her bike had gone.

Recounting what happened on Monday night, she said: “I had been out and because I hadn’t had dinner, I went to McDonald's to get some fries.

“I locked my bike outside and it had gone by the time I came back out – it was a shock when I came outside and it wasn’t there.”

Gazette: Upset – Jo Pearson has said she was shocked when she found her e-bike had been stolen from outside McDonald'sUpset – Jo Pearson has said she was shocked when she found her e-bike had been stolen from outside McDonald's (Image: Jo Pearson)

Miss Person then asked a teenager outside the fast-food restaurant if they had seen a red e-bike, before being informed someone had stolen it and ridden off in the direction of the city centre.

He then offered her what she presumed was another stolen bike.

She said: “When I spoke to the teenager about the bike, he said he didn’t realise it was stolen, but he then said: ‘Do you want this bike?’

“That was probably stolen as well.”

Without her e-bike, Miss Pearson has now said she struggles to cycle the ten miles she needs to travel each day for her job as a mental health nurse.

She said: “Where I live, there aren’t many buses close by – I would have to walk quite far to get to a bus stop.

“I use it for everything – it’s my main form of transport and it means a lot to me.

“And it’s got sentimental value, because it’s not just a bike – I really love it.”

Gazette: Surprised – Jo Pearson said she was offered another bike by a teenager outside McDonald's, a bike presumed was stolenSurprised – Jo Pearson said she was offered another bike by a teenager outside McDonald's, a bike presumed was stolen (Image: Jo Pearson)

Miss Pearson has since had to use a standard push bike offered to her since her e-bike was stolen.

Anyone with information about Monday’s theft should contact the police on essex.police.uk/digital101 or by calling 101 and quoting incident number 42/51953/24.