The owners of a vintage VW Beetle are gutted after it was stolen from outside their house during the rush-hour on Friday afternoon.

Ham & High: the 1973 Beetle. Picture: Karolina Jedrzejczykthe 1973 Beetle. Picture: Karolina Jedrzejczyk (Image: Archant)

Karolina Jedrzejczyk came home from work at 7pm to find the two-tone red and black 1973 car missing outside their house in Alexandra Park Road.

She spoke to her boyfriend, Marek Kolski, to see if he had taken it to the garage, and checked whether if it had been towed away by Haringey Council.

She said: "I just spotted out of the corner of my eye when I got off the bus that something wasn't right. You then start running through your mind what could have happened. I thought maybe it had even rolled down the hill."

After sharing that the car was missing on social media, she heard somebody say they had seen the distinctive car at 5.30pm. The 36-year-old believes it would have taken equipment to get a steering wheel lock and pedal locks off.

The car was Marek's hobby. He had spent hours working on it since buying the car two years ago, even ordering special alloy wheels from Germany.

His girlfriend said: "It's a car that will stand out and people recognise. It will be hard for the people who stole it to sell it.

"It's really sad. We used to love taking it for a spin around Hampstead and Highgate on a Sunday or an afternoon. There's plenty of memories with it, even if it's not so comfortable."

Initially police told her they would not be able to investigate because of a lack of evidence. She is now speaking to Arriva buses to see if there is CCTV available.