A Sussex pensioner who turned detective to track down his wife's stolen car was told police were too busy to seize it.

But the next morning officers rang Thomas Didcott saying they had recovered the missing motor - leaving him with a £250 towing and storage bill.

Police yesterday apologised and the charge has been retracted.

The case is the latest in a series where officers have come under fire for their slow action.

Mr Didcott, 64, a retired engineering lecturer, discovered his wife Elinor's Volkswagen Scirocco had vanished from outside their home in Patcham, Brighton, on Wednesday.

He reported the car stolen and police assured him they would keep a look-out.

Later that day, he by chance spotted the vehicle while on a shopping trip to Asda in Crowhurst Road, Hollingbury.

He gave chase but lost sight of the car in traffic and reported the sighting to police.

He said: "They said they would get a patrol car up there to check."

When he heard nothing by the following day, he and his daughter Anna made a tour of the Hollingbury area.

Mr Didcott said: "We were just passing Old Boat Walk when we saw a white Scirocco."

They pulled in and found the stolen car parked on the roadside. He rang the police, expecting them to help him recover it.

He said: "The police told me not to do anything rash and they would send a car."

The couple waited but there was no sign of assistance.

He said: "When I phoned them back and said I'd been waiting an hour, they said I had only been waiting 55 minutes. I didn't find that comment funny. I was then told to just drive the car home."

But Mr Didcott was concerned the thieves would return and snatch it back.

He said: "We sat in the car for two and a half hours waiting for the police to turn up. It was freezing. I've just come out of hospital after an operation."

Another call was made to police to ask when they were due to arrive.

He said: "They said everybody was dealing with a murder and they had no other patrols available. It's unbelievable. I accept there was a murder but this is a city, surely they can deal with more than one crime at a time?

"I even offered to drive into Brighton and pick a bobby up myself."

Mr Didcott eventually left his wife's car and returned home.

Police called him on Friday morning and said they had found his car.

He said: "They told me they had found it at about 7pm. I told them they hadn't found it, I had."

To add to the insult, Mr Didcott was told the police tow truck had removed the car for forensic examination and he would have to pay to get it back.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "If there was another major incident in Brighton at the same time there were enough officers to respond to a serious incident, if someone's life was in danger, but a lot of our officers were dealing with the murder."

She said Sussex Police would meet the cost of having Mr Didcott's car towed away and put in the pound while a forensic examination was carried out but he would have to pay mounting storage charges until it was collected.

There has been a series of serious, high-profile incidents, where police failed to respond to incidents in the 12 months since Chief Constable Ken Jones pledged to reverse the unspoken policy of not investigating minor crimes.

In June, residents on a Brighton estate told how police failed to respond to their calls when youths were seen shooting at passers-by.

In August, a curry house owner kept a suspected burglar prisoner for more than an hour but had to free him when police failed to turn up.

A disabled pensioner made a 999 call after being punched senseless by a burglar. Ray Holt, 68, was left waiting more than 24 hours before officers arrived.

In February, Mick Griffiths, 49, was told police were too busy to investigate a hit-and-run crash even though he had recorded the driver's registration number.

In December, Varndean School in Brighton drafted in private security guards after police failed to respond to a 999 call when an intruder with a knife entered the grounds.