'Senseless' thieves snatch tools from tradesman's van worth £3k in Wednesbury
Thieves stripped a tradesman’s van of tools in under five minutes putting his livelihood at risk
A tradesman was left counting the cost after “senseless” thieves made off with tools worth around £3,000 after he left his van outside a do-it-yourself store.
Air conditioning engineer Jason Payne said he popped into B&Q in Axletree Way in Wednesbury for literally a few minutes when the culprits cleared out his entire collection of work gear on Thursday(August 27).
Now he is appealing for the community to help by posting images of some of the missing equipment online.
The father-of-two, who lives in Short Heath, Willenhall, explains: “It’s honestly been devastating to lose my livelihood down to senseless thieves.
“The most gutting thing for me is that I’d spent months building my new Milwaukee kit and I finished it last week. And I put it on the van on the Monday, and by Thursday it was all gone after spending thousands building it, and my hand tools all held sentimental value as many of them have been with me since I first started out at work.
“Now I can’t afford to replace them all as I’ve just brought a house and I’m currently paying for renovation works on it before myself and family can move in which is taking all of my savings up.
“I’m basically starting all over again having just finished my new tool kit which is really frustrating. What happened was that I’d been working away in Staines, I came back early on the Thursday and I decided to start some work on my new house front garden, all I wanted to get was a silly £5 weed brush so I popped over to B&Q and went in to get one.
“I was in there no longer than five minutes. I’m certain it wasn’t even that long. I had my fiancée and daughter with me too which made me feel worse. We got back to the van, opened up the back to put my weed brush in and realised my van had been completely emptied leaving me with a sick feeling in my stomach.
“It was devastating I had the shakes and everything through what must of been anxiety or something.”
The 34-year-old also took to social media network Facebook to appeal for help in finding his goods.
“After my Facebook post numerous people were commenting that the same thing’s happened to them and that the thieves will go in between B&Q and Ikea across the road to watch people going into the stores and then get into their vehicles,” he said.
West Midlands Police has confirmed that the tool theft was reported to them.
The force states: “We were called about tools being stolen from a vehicle on Axletree Way, Wednesbury, at around 12pm on 27 August.
“Officers gave the victim advice over the phone and have since spoken with him.”
Witnesses or anyone with information about the whereabouts of the distinctive red and black-coloured Milwaukee tool set should contact officers on 101 or the force live chat service. Please quote the crime reference number 20/379142/26.