Metal thieves stripped a Black Country foundry of 61 tons of aluminium worth around £70,000.

Almost the entire stock of aluminium kept at Impalloy Ltd in Bloxwich vanished during the theft – one of the biggest in the region.

The raiders used a flat bed lorry to wrench the steel gates open at the Willenhall Lane site in the early hours of yesterday.

They then used forklift trucks at the foundry to load the lorry with one ton bundles of aluminium before ferrying it out of the gates.

Half an hour later the lorry returned, loaded up with tons more aluminium and again drove off – returning several times in the dead of night.

Stunned workers at the firm, which makes parts for the oil and gas industries, discovered the theft when they turned up to work at 5.30am yesterday to find the site stripped bare.

But a camera at Waste Care opposite filmed some of the overnight activity and is now being reviewed by police.