Sad news from the Lichfield & Hatherton Canal Restoration Trust who have had some of their equipment stolen following a break-in to their compound last Friday night (14th August 2015).

Please,  if you have any further information relating to this burglary, or if you are offered construction gear suspiciously cheaply, please contact Staffordshire Police by dialling 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

You can also  mail me directly and confidentially on BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com if you prefer, and I’ll pass any information on.

The Lichfield & Htherton Canal Restoration Trust wrote:

Image from Lichfield & hatherton Canal Restoration Trust website

Sad to report in the early hours of Friday 14th August thieves cut their way through the steel gates of the WCL Cranebook Quarry and stole diesel from WCL quarry equipment.

The thieves then moved their attentions to the LHCRT Summerhill compound and broke into our recently purchased container by ripping the locks from the doors to gain entry, then stole crowbars and hammers together with our petrol powered Vibrating plate compactor.

They moved on to our LHCRT Office / Training cabin and tore open the steel sheet security shutters over one of the windows, smashed and ripped the windows out of the frames to gain entry. They stole our 2.2kva petrol generator, our Dewalt Rotating laser and 5 pairs of new safety boots. Once outside again they siphoned diesel from our 6tonne Dumper and the Sheepsfoot roller, but were foiled from steeling the Diesel from our 5 tonne excavator by the security lock on the filler cap.

All in the thieves stole diesel, plant and equipment belonging to the Trust to the value of approximately £2,000 and caused further damage to container doors , security shutters and windows in excess of £1,500.

Both Peter Buck and Bob Williams responded and turned out at 9:00am to check the damage to Trust property and assess the losses.

The police were called and took statements, and also police forensic team took photos of the intruders footprints left within the office.

This is a setback to our restoration work but we will recover and continue with the work of restoration.