50 keys and seven cars stolen in Walsall dealership raid
A car dealership was left in turmoil when the keys to its entire stock were taken in an early-morning raid – along with seven vehicles.
Motorcity in Walsall Wood also had the logbooks and service history records to its 50 cars taken during the break-in on Monday.
Seven vehicles were stolen, although four have now been returned.
The keys to all the dealership’s stock have also now been recovered, but bosses are appealing for help to find the missing documentation.
They are also on the lookout for the three outstanding vehicles – a blue Ford Transit with registration plate BL15 TYS, a blue Mini Cooper with plate FV13 2ZG and black Astra GTC with plate FV62 DHY.
Their combined cost is £37,000.
Business as usual
Today, director Martin Brady, said the business was open as usual, despite the problems faced since the break-in.
“We were extremely fortunate for the good work of police in getting the keys back – we could have been left bankrupt without them,” he said.
“The cars are still here and we have the keys so customers can come and look around and inside the vehicles.
“What we are having to do is call up manufacturers to get the service records and names the vehicles have been registered to.
“We are desperate for them, if anyone finds the bundle of logbooks and service records, we’d be grateful if they were handed to us, or the police.”
Mr Brady believes the documentation could have been emptied into a plastic filer tray.
Seven vehicles, six hours
The raiders struck shortly after midnight. They broke into the dealership office on site and removed seven vehicles over the next six hours.
Mr Brady said: “We turned up to discover the break-in.
“It was then a job of finding out what had been taken and what we could do.
“The police have been terrific, they have supported us and tried to get back what they can.” Mr Brady said that, out of the four vehicles returned, two were stopped in a police
pursuit, and another two were discovered in a car park.
The car dealership has been running for 15 years. It had one previous theft, nine years ago.
A 33-year-old man, from Oldbury, was charged with theft of a car, driving with no insurance and two counts of burglary on Monday. He appeared at Dudley Magistrates Court on Tuesday. The case will next be heard at Wolverhampton Crown Court next month.
