At first she drew a blank, but after asking round in the neighbourhood one person sent her a video of her car with new number plates fitted.
“I was so shocked,” Bathalda said, adding a DVLA check revealed the plates were for a Volkswagen.
Later that day, the app revealed another location 20 minutes away in Colne, where she saw the car and recognised her belongings inside.
She got inside and decided to drive off in case the thief returned to it.
She said she then called the police, who said she should have contacted them first to prevent the contamination of fingerprint evidence.
Bathalda alleged there was little follow-up from GMP.
When asked of the repercussions of being her own detective, she said: “To be honest, I’m not scared of these guys.
“I don’t know if they’re going to come, if they’re going to try to recover the car again, because they still have the key.
“I sleep one hour a day because I always watch my camera to see if they can come again.”