A Stockport small business owner believes he has been targeted by thieves after his van was stolen just minutes after he left the house.
Martin, who lives in Bramhall, left the house with his wife just after 6:47pm on Monday evening (December 13) — only for three masked men to break into the property eight minutes later and steal his work van’s keys.
Martin used his grey Vauxhall van for his work, Velo Tech — a bicycle maintenance company.
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Such was the speed of the thieves’ work, Martin believes his van was ‘stolen to order’.
“He must have been sat in a car watching us leave, for three of them to get in within five to seven minutes and then leave the house,” he explained.
Martin says the door to his house had been ‘popped open’ by the men, who only took his van’s keys — leading him to believe it was a planned operation.
One crumb of comfort for the dad is that the van may not have got very far — as it had no fuel in at the time.
“I parked it up on November 5,” Martin continued. “It’s not moved since.
“There’s no fuel in it and it doesn’t have an MOT.”
Martin has been unable to work in the five weeks since following shoulder surgery after he was knocked off his bike by ‘a lorry’ in Cheshire last year.
However, the van was due to be MOT’d next week, so he could resume trading in the near future.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed no arrests have been made thus far.
