Dramatic footage has emerged of audacious thieves using a digger to steal a cash machine from a bank in Ashby town centre. The footage, released by Leicestershire Police, shows the digger crashing into the side of a Nationwide Building Society at 3.09am on Monday, July 10, in Market Street.
The digger caused extensive damage to the building. In the footage the thieves pull up outside the bank - one in the digger and another in a large truck. The digger is rammed into the front of the bank at high speed FOUR times destroying the front of the building.
Then a raider gets out of a sliver-coloured truck and runs into the bank and appears to tie something, possibly rope, around the ATM machine inside.
The footage finishes here. The ATM was then taken from inside the bank. The road was shut off until 11.45am on Tuesday morning as police investigations took place and the mess was cleared away.
Leicestershire Police is appealing for anyone with information to come forward. A spokesman said: "Enquiries into the incident are in their very early stage. If anyone witnessed the theft or saw any vehicles arriving or leaving the area at the time of the incident, we'd like to speak to you."
Ashby Councillor John Coxon has called for bollards to be installed to stop raids like this. He said: "It goes to show just how vulnerable some of these banking properties are. We've got to start looking at some sort of security bollards to protect these buildings, at least the banks should.
"Ashby is such a popular and busy town centre, in part because Market Street is one of the few town centre thoroughfares where traffic and people can still flow quite freely. It's a disgusting and brazen crime that will have a financial impact in the whole town centre."
Anyone with any information is being asked to call 101, and quote incident 35 of July 10.
