Police hunting thieves who stole £40,000 worth of portable toilets
Police are on the hunt for thieves after 35 portable toilets were stolen from a racetrack.
The cubicles – some of which were still full – were taken from a field at Ludlow Autograss Club in Pencombe, Herefordshire on Sunday.
It’s thought the thieves cut a padlock the night after a motor racing event and loaded up a Ford Transit van and trailer with the illicit toilets.
The loos are owned by Three Counties Toilet Hire run by 53-year-old Neil Griffiths, who says the theft could ‘destroy’ the family business.
His son Kieran, 26, discovered the theft when he went to collect the toilets.
Neil, who is currently on holiday, said: ‘We are devastated – I mean who on earth steals toilets?
‘Some of them were full as well, they didn’t even tip them over. They just took them all one by one. It’s all quite baffling. They aren’t easy to move.
‘They took about a quarter of our total stock but it’s about 80% of our event stock, so its going to have such a big impact on us.
‘We are a small family business and something like this could destroy us – replacing just one would cost us about £1,000.
‘Somebody at the track saw a Transit van pull up with a trailer and they assumed it was us.
‘They’ve either used cutters or knew the code to the padlocks, I’m still waiting to find out as I’m on holiday at the minute. But I just want to come home now.
‘It’s everything else we put inside them as well, like sanitising units. We have events all booked in for next year. We don’t know what we are going to do.
‘There were two portable toilets for disabled users which were also stolen, which cost about £1,500 each. It’s going to cost us so much money to replace them.
‘I want to make these loos too hot to handle – we just want them back.
‘I just want people to check CCTV and dashcam footage to see if any suspicious activity has been recorded and get in contact with police.
‘We’ve never had anything like this happen before, it’s unprecedented.’
The toilets were only bought by the business last year and cost around £40,000.
Most of the units are four square feet in size, with two disabled toilets measuring five square feet, so the thieves would require a large amount of space for storage.
A West Mercia Police spokesperson said: ‘On Sunday we received a report of the theft of 35 portable toilets from a field in Pencombe, Herefordshire.
‘Enquiries are ongoing.’
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