A hero neighbour chased a group of thieves away from a fellow tradesman's van after he noticed them trying to break into the back of the vehicle.
Richard McKean, who stays in Westerbroom, saw a group of men standing by his neighbour's van when walking his dog between 11pm and 12am on Saturday night.
At first he says he thought his neighbour had nipped out to the van for some tools only to realise in horror that it was a group of thieves trying to make off with the tools in the back of the van.
He then noticed a parked Citroen in an obscure position next to the van.
Richard gave chase to the group who scampered into the car and when they approached Richard on the road they allegedly swerved in his direction to try to scare him off.
Richard said: ““The street is quite busy even at that time of night so I was surprised to see thieves attempting to brazenly break in on a Saturday night when walking the dog.
“I was about 150 yards away down the road and had a bit of a delayed reaction as I thought it was my neighbour at first but then the penny dropped when I saw the car parked up on the side and a couple of unfamiliar guys. Alarm bells started going.
“I shouted at them and they piled into the car. I’m not as fast as I used to be but I also wasn’t expecting them to have people in the car ready to go. When they went past there must have been five or six of them in the car. They twitched the car towards me to try to get me to jump out the way, which I obviously did, but thankfully they did not wipe my neighbour out. They only managed to steal a few things when I spoke with my neighbour.
“About a year ago a mate of mine who stays at Forrester Park got his van done. It was an older Ford model which I think can be susceptible to break ins. But there was no broken glass and no damage to the doors. The break ins are becoming more sophisticated and the police did say it is getting worse in Edinburgh.
“As a plumbing and heating engineer, I’m a member of a number of groups on Facebook and you have started to see guys down in London move their tools into the house at night and leave the back of the van open. It’s becoming so prevalent that you’re as well leaving the back open so that thieves don’t do serious damage breaking in.”
Richard says that the vehicle looked like a Citreon people carrier with one door a different colour from the rest.
The police were approached for comment. But for more information on what you can do to secure your vehicle, visit their website.
