Man nicked car he pretended he wanted to buy

Cheeky thief drove off during test drive

A thief sped off in a car after pretending he wanted to buy it through an online app.

David McGibbon, 31, raced away in the silver BMW after persuading seller Rubeel Farooq to grant him a test drive through the Schpock app.

The owner chased him down and was able to wrestle him out of the motor when he tore out of a Pure Gym car park.

The crook faces jail after he was convicted of swiping the car.

At Paisley Sheriff Court Mr Farooq told how he got out after meeting McGibbon – but watched as he drove away.

The victim said: “He said he liked the car and wanted to buy it and said he needed to go to the bank to get the money. “I think I said I’d take him. “He just looked at me and then drove off with the door wide open.

“My first reaction was, ‘S***, he’s going to hit someone’s car with that door’.

“Then it dawned on me, he was driving off in my car.”

Mr Farooq said he ran after the car and managed to open the door,

He dragged McGibbon out when he pulled up at a junction.

The driver added: “He followed the one-way system to go out and I sprinted down and was neck-andneck with him.

“I opened the door and pulled him out and his reaction was, ‘I thought we were going to the bank?’

“I told him to get out and get out of my face. He was very lucky I didn’t do anything more.”

Mr Farooq says McGibbon stumbled off after the Renfrew Road drama on September 5, 2016.

He told the court he sent a text to the number given before the sale, but was called a “black b*****d”.

McGibbon represented himself during the trial and claimed he was not behind the theft.

He insisted anybody could create a Shpock profile.

But Mr Farooq maintained: “You did that, 100 per cent, you did that.

“You drove off in my car and I managed to catch up with you.”

The court heard McGibbon was caged for 10 months for an almost identical offence just months before.

He was jailed at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court after answering an online ad for a motor and stealing it from Dalry Railway Station in January 2016.

Police scrambled a helicopter and chased him through Morrisons car park in Johnstone’s Napier Street, before he rushed through two red lights and crossed onto the wrong side of Burrochan Street.

Sheriff Seith Ireland warned he could face another stretch for the latest conviction.

McGibbon, of Elm Drive, Johnstone, has been ordered to return to court for sentencing later this month.