Veg thief emptied my allotment
OAP ‘nearly cried’ at damage
THIEVES have left a pensioner devastated by stealing the entire vegetable crop from his allotment.
Bill Mason, 76, said he was on the verge of tears when he arrived at his plot and discovered what had happened.
Potatoes, spring onions, beetroot, cabbages, lettuce, rhubarb and celeriac were all taken.
He tends to the allotment in Littlehampton, West Sussex, for four to five hours every day and said he and his partner relied on the fruits of his labour to see them through the winter.
The potato crop was half their yearly supply and Mr Mason said he feared they may now have to ration their food.
‘I nearly cried when I saw it,’ he said. ‘They have taken my livelihood away for no reason at all. It is part of my pension; that is what hurts. I don’t do it for fun.’ Mr Mason, a retired engineering firm owner, has tended to the allotment for 18 years. ‘We get the odd vandal up there, but this was carefully planned; they took away what they pulled up,’ he said. Produce worth £100 was taken.
He has called for greater security and CCTV cameras. He said: ‘It is a joke; there is no security up there at all.’ Littlehampton Town Council said it would make the site more secure and apologised for the ‘distress and upset’ the theft had caused. Sussex Police is investigating the theft, which happened last Tuesday.
There has been a spate of allotment thefts in recent months. In April, thousands of pounds worth of equipment was stolen from an allotment in Ipswich. Villagers in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, called for CCTV to be installed after a series of strawberry and raspberry thefts.
Allotment holders in Canvey Island, Essex, said they had no choice but to give up their hobby after a number of thefts. And West Mercia police advise allotment holders to install fences and lighting to deter thieves.