Thieves steal 32-ton lorry from yard

A 32-ton lorry with a huge crane on the back has been stolen from a West Midlands industrial estate.

Thieves sliced through gates to get into Brownhills Grab Hire and drove off with the distinctive HGV, worth £20,000.

CCTV captured people roaming around the site on Maybrook Industrial Estate in Brownhills on Tuesday night.

Owner of the company Paul Norgrove believes they spent around two hours breaking into three units.

It's not known how they escaped with the lorry, which was empty. A small amount of hand tools were also taken in the raid.

The company transports heavy goods, such as block paving, for the construction industry. The lorry is used for transporting materials for groundwork, such as soil.

Mr Norgrove, aged 50, from Brownhills, has been running the business from the site for five years and insists nothing like this has happened before.

He said: "I'm gutted. They have damaged all the gates on the premises and cut them off.

"It's going to affect my business because it's the only particular lorry that we have got of that sort, it's a specialist crane vehicle.

"I won't be able to work at the moment until I get something sorted to replace it."

Mr Norgrove's brother, Graham, 49, runs Brownhills Skip Hire which is also on the estate, and the lorry was in his unit when it was stolen.

They discovered the damage - which they say will run into thousands of pounds - when they arrived at the estate yesterday morning.

Gina Lycett, spokeswoman for Walsall Police, said the force is appealing for information about the theft.

She said: "We were called at 6.23am to a premises on the Maybrook Road industrial estate to the report of a break in, where it looks like a lorry was stolen.

"We are investigating and appealing for witnesses."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0345 113 5000.