Thief steals bus tablets fitted with trackers - it's no surprise what happened next

A thief was arrested within hours after he broke into buses at a depot and stole on-board computer tablets - all fitted with tracking devices. Daniel Whiteside, 31, was up in court the next day to be sentenced by magistrates.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) said the tracking technology installed on the computer tablets enabled police to recover all 16 of them stolen.

Similar to a regular tablet, the consoles form part of ticketing machines on board buses. Security features installed on them, however, mean they cannot be used as a regular tablet like an iPad can be. The theft was reported at a bus depot on Goodwin Street in Bolton.

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TfGM said in a statement: "The incident on Goodwin Street was reported to Greater Manchester Police at around 5am on April 26, 2024, when 16 computer tablets were stolen from vehicles. Following an investigation by GMP's Transport Unit, a suspect was arrested later on Friday."

Whiteside, of Kent Court, Bolton, was arrested and appeared at Manchester and Salford magistrates court the following day, Saturday April 27.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of theft from a motor vehicle and was sentenced to a community order with a rehabilitation requirement. TfGM said he was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Sergeant Anthony Evason, from GMP's Transport Unit Tasking Team, said: "I hope this arrest provides reassurance to the public that our officers will always seek to take positive action against anyone suspected of committing a crime."

Kate Green, TfGM’s TravelSafe Partnership Manager, added: "We welcome the swift intervention taken by Diamond Bus and the police to resolve this issue within a day of