A DISTRAUGHT teenager was ecstatic when police told her they had found her stolen scooter just yards away from the family home – until she was told she would have to pay a hefty sum to get it back.

Faye Bradley’s scooter was found abandoned about 200 yards from her home in Wilberforce Avenue, Clifton, was towed all the way to the other side of the city and the recovery fee is more than the hard-up teenager can afford.

But North Yorkshire Police said that it was force policy for all stolen vehicles to be compounded.

Faye, 18, was gutted when her prized possession – a Honda Barley 50cc scooter – was stolen from her home, last Sunday evening.

Police rang the teenager – who uses her trusty scooter to travel to Askham Bryan College where she is studying for a national diploma in animal management – the next morning to say they had located the vehicle on the next street.

But her joy was short-lived when she was told that the scooter had been taken to a compound in Dunnington, and she would have to pay to get it back.

She was charged £105, after being unable to afford to collect the vehicle after five days, she has had had another £60 bill added to the amount – £12 a day for storage.

Today her distraught mum, Amanda Bradley, has said she is devastated that, as “a victim of crime”, Faye has been landed with such a large bill to collect the stolen property.

”It is just not fair that we have to pay to get our own property back after it was snatched from her home,” the Amanda said.

Faye’s brother, 22-year-old Lee, added that he is furious on behalf of his sister.

“If the police had called us when it was stolen we could have collected it straight away,” he said.

“Instead they just impounded it and expect her to foot the bill.”

Lee said Faye desperately needs the scooter to get to college. “The scooter was an old one,” he said. “It’s not worth much, and, as Faye’s excess is £250, it is just not worth getting back.

“It is such a shame, my sister is really bright and she will really struggle to get to college now.”

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said it was a national policy to send recovered stolen vehicles to a compound. He said: “The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986 give the police power to remove vehicles in certain situations.

“This includes vehicles which ‘have been abandoned without lawful authority’. “This part of the powers covers stolen motor vehicles that have been abandoned.”