Metal thieves set up a makeshift jetty and used a canal barge to make off with five tons of aluminium from a Black Country firm.

Workers at Impalloy Ltd in Bloxwich were stunned to discover the metal had been carried from outside the foundry down a slippy, steep embankment, through a fence and loaded on to a boat on the Wyrley and Essington Canal.

Despite the weight of the metal, which would have taken hours to load, the thieves managed to get away undetected.

The unusual nature of the theft was revealed because a trail of metal had been dropped by the thieves and was found leading to a hole cut in the fence continuing down to the canal, where a makeshift jetty was discovered.

Managing director at Impalloy, Marie Patterson, said: “I don’t know how they have managed to carry all that metal down such a steep embankment and then got it onto a boat.

“If I could meet these people I would employ them, it is probably the way they used to transport things in times gone by.

“I was gobsmacked when I was shown the jetty they have obviously made and used to get the metal on the boat or raft or whatever they used. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover they used a work horse or something.

“The metal they took was damaged and worthless and has been just sitting outside the foundry.”

The following day the thieves returned to sneak in to the foundry and steal the small amount of metal they had left behind, this time making off on a worker’s bicycle.

It is not the first time the Willenhall Lane foundry has been targeted and it has now installed CCTV and has 24 hour security on site.

In March this year 61 tons of aluminium was stolen worth around £70,000.

Since then the company has been hit by smaller thefts over the last few months. But the latest raid, which happened around a fortnight ago, has been the most unusual.