Mystery of vanishing scooter solved

Belle Harris and Alfred Ellis have their own scooters back, and Mrs Harris also has a new scooter. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

An elderly man who criticised a mobility scooter theft was surprised to discover he was the one who had taken it.

Alfred Ellis, 85, read in the newspaper of the theft of Tauranga grandmother Belle Harris' electric scooter, and thought it was "an awful thing".

But on Wednesday he returned the 88-year-old's Ranger after realising he had accidently taken it and left his own, shabbier Ranger.

After visiting a Greerton supermarket, Mr Ellis had wondered why his scooter looked different, and seemed to be driving slower.

"When I came home that day I couldn't understand why there was only one control on the left-hand side," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.

"I have two controls on mine."

When he returned to the supermarket, a staff member recognised Mrs Harris' scooter and confronted him.

"He set off for home, and his brain started to turn over. He was a little embarrassed, so he headed for the police station," Mrs Harris said.

"He had wondered why his scooter felt and looked so different."

Mr Ellis' key fitted the ignition of her scooter, which he took while she was grocery shopping.

Mrs Harris had been frustrated at first, thinking someone had left her with an "old clunker" - a noisier, duller Ranger with pieces missing.

But when she met Mr Ellis at the police station they laughed off the mistake.

"We had a chuckle. He'd been growling about the people that did it, and he said 'I've only got to look in the mirror now'."

Mrs Harris was given a new $4500 scooter by the Home and Health Mobility company, which sympathised with her situation.

"I was a little worried I'd have to give it back now, but the owner said I could keep this one no matter what."

She plans to donate her $3000 Ranger, nicknamed Gertie, to the Mt Maunganui RSA.