A Dundee builder is offering a £15,000 reward after thieves stripped his city centre business of heavy machinery worth thousands of pounds.
The robbers stole nearly £31,000 of goods, including a 20ft car transporter and 2,000 bits of scaffolding, from construction firm Stephen Mellor Plant on Miln Street.
The haul also included a two-and-a-half tonne tipping trailer, a one tonne car trailer, a generator, an orange mini digger, a cement mixer and 100 litres of red diesel.
Owner Stephen Mellor said: “This will have a huge impact on my business.
“We have got three jobs open just now to the value of £120,000, which is not a great haul of work on to be honest.
“It has already resulted in seven people being paid off and me keeping four.
“I’ve been working seven days a week for six years to build up the tool kit and it feels like I’ve been put back to square one.
“I’m absolutely sick. I am willing to offer a £15,000 reward for the return of all of my equipment.
“The value is estimated at £30,856, but there was a lot of stuff that I didn’t need, such as a water pump I used maybe twice a year, so I wouldn’t necessarily replace that but it is going to set me back £20k just now.”
The thieves got personal when they stole two bottles of whisky, a shotgun, a lamp, a tweed jacket and even Stephen’s daughter’s scooter.
Stephen explained: “She used the scooter to play in the yard on a Saturday morning if I was catching up on paperwork. That’s to the extent it’s got personal.”
The theft took place between Monday September 29 and Wednesday October 1 and Stephen believes stealing such a large amount of goods would have required at least a two-day operation.
He continued: “There is not really a way out without passing a camera.
“They must have made maybe eight trips to empty the yard, so they’ve been at it hammer and tongs all night.
“They knew where the CCTV camera was to turn that off and where the back door was to get entry, so it’s obviously been well scoped before they went in.
“I didn’t get back until Friday past.
“The lads were aware of the break in but they didn’t know to what extent.
“They couldn’t touch anything until I got back so I couldn’t get it flagged up to the police until yesterday.
“Somebody must know something. It’s a very small town.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police Scotland can confirm that officers are making inquiries into a high-value theft from a business premises in Miln Street, Dundee, that happened sometime between Monday September 29 and Wednesday October 1.”
Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101 or via crimestoppers on 0800 555111.