THE owner of a private hire taxi firm has released CCTV of his car being broken in to in the hope a viewer may recognise the culprit - and to serve as a warning to others.

Ishtayaq Rashid, who runs 1st Choice Airport Services, said one of his cameras caught the moment a thief smashed the passenger window of a grey Volkswagen Transport shuttle minibus and stole a wi-fi gadget in the middle of the night on Friday February 12.

It was parked securely in the drive of his Tildsley Street, Great Lever, home.

The 51-year-old said: "When I checked the CCTV it was about 3 or 3.30 in the morning.

"I put the footage up on Facebook. I put it on my page and lots of people shared it.

"The picture quality is very good but the person has committed the crime was well prepared and was all covered up.

"You can see him come across the road, smash the window and taking the wi-fi gadget."

The gadget is a device that allows Mr Rashid's passengers use to free wi-fi during their journey to the airport.

It was resting on a shelf next to the ashtray but was not plugged in when it was snatched.

Mr Rashid said: "I do airport transport and I usually get up at 5.15am for a 6am job.

"I got up at about 5.30am that day and didn't even realise until I got into the car and looked across and saw the pieces of glass on the passenger seat that the car had been broken in to.

"I had to take the Transporter out of service and get one of my other drivers out of bed to do the airport pick-up.

"I lost three or four jobs that day and it cost me £90 to repair the window - all for a wi-fi device."

He said the same car had its driver's side window smashed in November by a thief on a bike.

In that instance the car was parked with permission on one of Mr Rashid's neighbour's drive.

Mr Rashid said of the latest crime: "I'm gutted. I'm a decent working man who has suffered all for the sake of a broken window.

"The thief has a distinctive run and people may recognise him from the run.

"Hopefully it will be a reminder for people to lock their vehicles and if it helps stop anyone else falling victim then it's good."