Light fingered champagne charlies helped themselves to forty thousand pounds worth of bubbly from a parked-up lorry while the driver was asleep inside but turned their noses up at the Coca-Cola concentrate in another lorry.
The theft happened between 11pm on Sunday and 5am on Monday, when the Hungarian-registered HGV was parked up for the night in a pull-in layby on the northbound carriageway of the A40 opposite the VOSA weighbridge, just short of the Overross roundabout, near Ross.
The driver checked the trailer at 11pm, before going to sleep in the cab, but when he awoke at 5am he found the nearside curtain slashed and champagne from nine pallets had been removed.
Police say the theft was all the more incredible, because it happened in a layby in full view of motorists travelling towards the M50. The drink must have been removed by hand which would have slowed up the process.
The stolen bottles, valued at £40,000, bore the Nicole d’Aurigny label. They are 75cl in volume and 12% alcohol.Quaffers are asked to be on the alert for the label if offered on the cheap.
PC Ed Williams of the Vehicle Crime Unit at Hereford said: “The thieves were very bold – several hundred bottles were stolen.
Because the lorry was parked at the side of the main road and close to a hedge, it was impossible to use a fork-lift to empty the trailer, so the thieves had to remove the boxes by hand. This must have taken some considerable time as each box only contained six bottles.”
The thieves also attacked an Irish-registered HGV parked in front of the champagne lorry. They slashed the nearside curtain, but seeing the vehicle contained Coca-Cola concentrate, enroute to Colwall, they left the contents intact, but the lorry had to return to Ireland as Coca-Cola would not accept the consignment for fear of contamination by the thieves.
PC Williams said: “Someone must have seen something – please come forward as soon as possible.”
Contact PC Williams or his colleagues on 0300 333 3000. Alternatively, call the confidential Crimestoppers line 0800 555111.
