A message from Jack Cloughley to the reprobate who nicked his flash Blunt Prodigal.

'Please give it back – because I love that scooter.”

Jack Cloughley is not happy someone stole his new scooter, leaving him to roll around on his tired old orange wheels. Photo by Tracy Hardy.

If you know scooters and you know Blunt Prodigals – they are the business. Prodigal by name and prodigal by nature – they're lavish and luxuriant by scooter standards. 'It looks really cool,” boasts Jack.

To give that degree of 'coolness” perspective, all Jack's scooter and skateboard mates think it's 'really cool too”. So object of admiration becomes object of envy.

Jack got his distinctive American purple and silver stunt scooter for his 10th birthday on Monday March 16. Five days later it was gone – stolen! Taken from the bike sheds at Papamoa Primary.

'I am really sad,” says Jack.

So are his Mum and Dad, who spent nearly $400 on the scooter.

Dad bought it back from America while on a business trip – it was exactly what Jack wanted for his birthday. He was chuffed.

Jack rode the Blunt to school Friday morning and, as is practice at Papamoa primary, the caretaker locked the bike sheds until the other end of the school day.

'The Blunt would have been a very attractive proposition for someone who knew what it was” says Jack's Mum Delwyn.

They would have seen Jack riding it, followed him and picked exactly the right time to strike – once the bike shed was unlocked and before Jack had time to reclaim the machine.

'I got a call at work – the scooter had gone and Jack was miserable,” says Delwyn.

'I even started to cry,” says Jack. An admission like that from a 10-year-old bloke tells us something about his level of despair. 'But my friends helped me.”

Delwyn did wonder about letting him ride it to school. 'Now I know I shouldn't have.” However, she accepts it was probably just some opportunist thief.

A replica of Jack's stolen purple and silver scooter, named a Blunt Prodigal.

'It's very distinctive though. It's probably safe to say there aren't two purple and silver Blunts in Papamoa. So if it's around it'll be spotted.”

In the meantime Jack's back to riding his tired old ‘dunger' scooter to school and the skateboard park. It doesn't hold the same interest and he can't execute those 'deck touches off the ramp” or '180s on the ground”.

The Cloughley's have researched online and there are no replacement Blunts in New Zealand.

'Of course, ultimately we would like the original back,” says Delwyn. And that would make a 10-year-old scooter/skateboard nut very happy.

But Jack's playing hardball and has a word for the scooter sinner. 'Steal my scooter again and I'll call the Police and have you arrested.”

Seems this young man, who appreciates right from wrong, is not yet ready to forgive.