Builder’s anger Thieves take £4,000 of equipment from van
BUILDER Danny Mccauley says his livelihood has been put at stake after thousands of pounds’ worth of tools were stolen from his van.
The tools were stolen overnight on Friday, October 2 on Sandhurst Road in Cheltenham.
Mr Mccauley, 45, woke up on Friday morning to find his van broken into with £4,000 of tools stolen.
Thieves had carved off the lock on the van and “opened it like a can of beans”, he said.
The items stolen were vital to Mr Mccauley’s business, Mccauley Construction and will have both short and long-term consequences for him.
His insurance will not cover the stolen tools as he left them in the van overnight. The costs of insuring the van with the tools overnight would cost him hundreds of pounds, which he cannot afford.
He said: “In the short term, I’ll just have to hire stuff. There’s no point getting new stuff if its going to get stolen again.”
Despite reporting the theft to police on Friday, Mr Mccauley received a text on Sunday, October 4 to say that the case would be dropped unless he could produce more evidence.
Mr Mccauley, who is from Cheltenham, said the decision to drop the case is ridiculous: “The police just don’t care.
“It’s as if they expect it to happen, they just say ‘ah, that’s a shame that happened’ and that’s it.”
Mr Mccauley said that since he posted about the theft on Facebook, he has seen the same thing occurring to others in the area.
He added believes the thefts are beyond petty crime by locals in the area and is more likely down to organised criminals planning the thefts and sending the stolen goods overseas. Cloucestershire Constabulary has issued a response regarding the incident, that says: “Police were called to Sandhurst Road in Cheltenham on Friday (2 October) following reports that a van had been broken into overnight with tools being stolen from inside.
“The van is believed to have been entered at some point between 8pm on Thursday (1 October) and 7.30am on Friday (2 October).
“Officers conducted all reasonable lines of enquiry with the information that was available to them.
“The victim was later informed that the investigation would be closed after all of the information was assessed and it was found that there were no evidential lines of enquiry such as witnesses and CCTV footage which could be used or forensic opportunities.
“The victim was informed that the investigation will be reopened should new information come to light.”
“Anyone who witnessed this taking place, has CCTV footage or who has been offered tools for sale is asked to call 101 quoting incident 45 of 2 October.
“Information can also be submitted by completing the following online form and referencing the incident number.”