A BUSINESSMAN is appealing for help in tracking down thieves who brazenly broke into his work van in the full glare of CCTV cameras.

Mark Fryer runs M.A.F Plumbing and Heating and had left his van outside his home in Surtees Street, Darlington, on Sunday night.

On going to his van on Monday morning he noticed the rear doors had been forced and items worth several thousand pounds taken.

Mr Fryer, a former soldier, went back inside to look at the CCTV footage which revealed several thieves had broken into his van in the early hours, taking items on three occasions.

Stolen were an industrial carpet cleaner worth £2,700, a heater unit worth around £600 and a gas analyser worth around £1,000.

Angry at the theft, Mr Fryer said he was also disappointed with the response from Durham Constabulary.

"I am pretty devastated," he said. "As a company, we do plumbing and heating and bathrooms, but we also try and go the extra mile. As good as our intentions are to keep conditions are pristine as we can, occasionally things get dirty and that's why I invested in the carpet cleaner."

Mr Fryer said the time it took to send an officer out had added to the upset.

"I phoned the police and they said they would have somebody out within two hours. I sat in all day, nobody came out, so that was another day's work lost," he said. "I phoned the following day and complained and was told someone would be out later on that day, nobody came.

The Northern Echo:

ANGRY: Mr Fryer with his van

"Then someone phoned me up, I assume a sergeant, giving me a thousand apologies and saying they were extremely busy but would get someone out. I was offered an appointment but I said this was no good as I don't know where I'll be."

Mr Fryer, who has been targeted a couple of times in the past, finally gave details to an officer in person on Thursday night who he said was "very professional".

He said: "The police got both barrels off me because I have had CCTV for a couple of years and I have lost count of how many times they have knocked on the door or called me up regarding incidents in the area and I have sat on my own at night going through the CCTV and have phoned them up and said 'yes I have got them' or 'no I haven't'. So I did feel a bit let down and told them that."

Insp Jon Malcolm, of Durham Police, said "the slow attendance has been as a result of high volume incidents in the Darlington area over this period".

"We would like to get to incidents of this type within the first few hours of the report being made but unfortunately this can’t always be the case," he said.

"If more serious offences take place this means lower priority incidents drop down the attendance list and as a result take longer for us to attend. This said, in this incident Mr Fryer was offered an appointment through our ‘diary system’ to secure an officer to attend at a specific time and date which he did not feel was appropriate at the time.

"We make ‘diary car’ appointments for non-urgent cases when an immediate police attendance is not required. The feedback for this service is generally very positive, as it enables the member of the public to have their case handled at a time of their choosing when they know an officer is scheduled to attend.

"The incident log shows there were many attempts to get an officer to attend this incident but it is evidenced that officers throughout this time were attending higher priority incidents and unable to attend.

"Once Mr Fryer accepted a diary appointment, an officer attended on the time and date requested, took the report, CCTV, CSI attended and an investigation commenced."

  • If you can help identify the thieves please contact the police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.