Thieves steal van in for repair... and break down

THIEVES who raided a Dundee garage made off in a van which was in for repair — and broke down by the roadside just a mile into the getaway.

Staff at Sidlaw Commercial Vehicle Repairs on Perrie Street returned to work after the New Year to find items, including a Dell computer, vehicle diagnostic equipment, brake testers, trolley jacks and battery chargers were gone.

Police believe the break-in took place between 1am on January 1 and 7am on January 3.

Jamie Costello, manager at the garage in Perrie Street, Lochee, said: “It’s in the hands of police now.

“We’ve gone to use a lot of our regular things only to find they’re not there.

“We’ve not got a proper value yet but it will run into thousands of pounds.”

Jamie believes the thieves may not be “the sharpest tools in the box”, as the culprits also stole a white Ford Transit van which was in for repair — and broke down in Brownhill Road, Charleston.

He added: “They don’t seem to be the sharpest bunch. It could be that a lot of the stuff is in the van but they locked it and took the key.”

Jamie and his dad Bob, who owns the garage, believe the thieves were looking for tools specifically associated with car repair. They seemed to be focused on looking for garagetype tools,” said Jamie.

“There were other tools that you may not have associated with normal repair processes in garages that weren’t taken but they took things like diagnostic equipment.”

Jamie urged people to be vigilant if they were offered diagnostic and other car repair equipment for sale around Dundee.

The garage raid comes after £5,000 worth of gadgets were stolen from Tech Repair on Strathmartine Road in the early hours of Tuesday.