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Fed up of attacks by thieves, biker group take law into their own hands

Behind a petrol station on an industrial estate in east Manchester, they gathered the troops.

Out came the laminated maps, marker pens - the GoPros were rigged up and the communications systems checked.

I have been to police briefings that have been less thorough.

This though was about 20 men and women who had finished a day's work and were now starting their second job - evening work that none of them want to be doing.

It is a job all of them believe is the only way of protecting themselves and the biker community in this part of Manchester.

Some use their motorbikes to get to and from work and say they run a gauntlet each day never knowing when they are going to be attacked by thieves who seem to become more and more brazen.

All of them have a story about how their motorbikes or scooters have been targeted whether on or off the road.

It is not always reported to the police because many owners have become disillusioned with the ability of the police to respond.

Even if the police do recover a bike, there is often a release fee to pay of more than £100, meaning the owner is always out of pocket even if their bike is returned. Insurance premiums then also jump up.

So if the bike can be recovered for free with no official paperwork, then it is by groups like the one.

Some of the higher power motorbikes were sent out to be spotters at locations based on the intelligence the group received this week - tip-offs via Facebook about stolen scooters, mopeds and motorbikes.

We followed from a distance as a van and a convoy of other motorbikes set off as the main patrol.

Within 20 minutes they had caught sight of a stolen motorbike - a couple of their number quickly went into pursuit mode but the target bike pulled away across a junction and pursuing it would have been too dangerous.

It happened again less than an hour later.

Some nights the fox they are hunting just gets away. It just makes them more determined to get them next time.

Earlier this year the group passed us a recording of one 18-year-old on a suspected stolen bike who they chased and apprehended.

As he bailed off the bike and tried to run, the group pinned him to the ground and unleashed a verbal tirade warning him to stop stealing.

There was a struggle but the group told us they got the bike back and that was their only objective.

They all hate the term "vigilantes". They say it doesn't capture what they do or why they do it. Greater Manchester Police does say however that these groups are taking the law into their own hands.

One member we spoke likened their operation to a neighbourhood watch scheme - that makes you think they are twitching their curtains to gather snippets of information to pass to the police.

Not many neighbourhood watch volunteers actually hunt down offenders and forcibly apprehend them, and in doing so the groups are treading a very fine line.

If someone were to be knocked off a suspected stolen bike during a pursuit and then smashed their head on a pavement and died, there is little doubt charges would follow.

But the group we filmed with was made up of fundamentally honest and decent people who are just so exasperated with what they call an "epidemic" of vehicle crime that they are willing to step into the void that they believe police cuts have left behind.

Whatever the consequences.