Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Huge container stolen
Criminals make off with equipment worth £2,000
PLANS to stage a Highland games tournament are in jeopardy after thieves made off with £2,000 of transport equipment.
The Cupar Highland Games committee had temporarily parked the trailer and shipping container — which they had been set to buy from a local stable — at Duffus Park.
The committee had planned on using the trailer and container — each worth £1,000 — to store furniture and games equipment such as chairs, fencing and cabers, ahead of the event at Duffus Park in June.
However, sometime towards the end of last month, the trailer and container disappeared — leaving the organisers out of pocket and their plans for the games up in the air.
Games committee chairman Bill McSeveney said: “It’s difficult to be precise about when it has been moved — and it’s worse because we hadn’t actually bought it yet.
“We had been set to buy it from Saltire Stables in Cupar.
“They were the original owners but agreed to sell the trailer to us for £1,000 and to give us the container for free. We’re morally obliged to pay for it so we’re £1,000 out of pocket.”
The Cupar games event costs about £11,000 to put on.
At present, the committee has £7,000 in the bank and, as such, the theft represents a major setback for the committee, which is now short of £1,000 and a trailer in which to store and transport games equipment.
Mr McSeveney added: “It’s a lot of money to us. We’ve got a meeting tomorrow and our next steps will be one of the considerations.
“I’m a member of the local Rotary club as well, and had hoped to use the trailer to help the community — so there’s a community aspect to the loss as well.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said officers are investigating the theft.
She said: “The incident happened between Thursday March 8 and Sunday April 1, near to Duffus Park in Carslogie Road.
“Inquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact Cupar Police Station via 101, quoting incident number 1989 of April 5.”