Belgian family on a cycle touring holiday of the UK have their electric cargo bike stolen from Beverley town centre

The parents and their three children were eating dinner in Beverley on Tuesday when the Urban Arrow electric bike was taken along with two backpacks and a toolbox containing their possessions at 6.40pm.

It had been parked in the marketplace and was later seen in the village of Scorborough being ridden towards Driffield, as well as in the vicinity of Beverley Minster.

Humberside Police have now released CCTV images of the suspected thief in a bid to trace the cargo bike and return it to the family, who are now back in Belgium.

After visiting Edinburgh and various parts of Yorkshire, the family had camped on the outskirts of Beverley before the final leg of their journey to Hull, from where they caught a ferry to Europe.

The bike is described as white framed with a large hood and two baskets on the side.

Writing on their travel blog, the Dutch-speaking family said that their website had experienced a spike in readers since the theft.

"Our audience is the concerned residents of Hull and Berverley, who join us in the search for our stolen cargo bike. You read that right, after years of loyal service, our Urban Arrow, called Bertha, was recently equipped with a new rear wheel, tyre, chain and sprockets and of course including (fortunately empty) bicycle bags, our makita container (including cutlery, boxes and breakfast), our rain pants, jackets and sweaters. She stood in the bicycle shed at the large market in Beverley, while we went to eat something for a good hour. Bert had locked it, but left the key in the lock, so admit it, we didn't really give the thief a hard time.

"Meanwhile, it seems as if the whole city is looking for it. The Facebook post that I made on the advice of a contact here has already been shared 717 times, and in addition to indignant and encouraging messages, we got proposals to be taken to the ferry and the city (Hull), so the non-bicycle thieves here do their best. We will be able to make good use of the lifts, because the farm campsite where we were staying is of course not in the centre, and certainly not next to the port. The local BBC radio has already contacted us to ask if we would also like to spread our story through their channel.

"Anyway, the stoic in us knows it could have been worse. All five of us are OK, we had almost completely cycled our tour; thanks to the nice Brits we got on the ferry quickly, and from there there is a train home. We are actually going to be home a day earlier, because the train goes a lot faster than we do by bicycle. In order not to let the last days before our trio end in a minor key, we also do our best to let the promised fun outings (today breakfast in the supermarket, later BBQ, tomorrow high tea) continue, even if it is for the adults below. us a little bit."

Anyone who recognises the suspect, or believes they have seen the bike, should contact Humberside Police on 101 quoting log 474 of 17 August.