Destructive digger raid on Thurnscoe ATM

The thieves struck at Houghton Road overnight, removing the ATM and leaving the plant vehicle in the middle of the road.

Police were called at around 2.50am to reports that three men were using a JCB, a Ford Transit van and a hatchback Mercedes to dislodge the cash machine.

They escaped in the van and car, taking the machine and its contents with them. The front wall of the Post Office was largely demolished.

Houghton Road was closed between Kingsway and Church Street while forensics officers investigated, but had been reopened by 10.30am.

Police urge anyone with information to call them on 101, quoting incident number 79 of July 6.

It is the second destructive raid on a local cash machine this week.

Thieves struck a McColl’s supermarket in Harthill on Tuesday, blasting an ATM from the wall using flammable gas.

Empty cash boxes were later found on a pavement, about two miles away.