Thieves take vehicle with owner’s aid dog inside
Wednesday 23rd February 2011, 8:30PM GMT.
Thieves drove off from a Bridgnorth petrol station in a customer’s vehicle with his hearing dog and £10,000 of equipment inside, police said today.
The Land Rover Discovery, worth £30,000, was stolen as the owner went to pay at the Hermitage Service Station at Teso in Low Town just after 7pm yesterday.
Vehicle owner Peter Ward, 52, of Chelmarsh, near Bridgnorth, who is partially deaf, said he was lost without his border collie hearing dog, Soot.
Mr Ward, a building conservationist, said: “It was incredibly quick. I pulled up to get some fuel and then pulled off from the pump and parked right in front of the kiosk and got out to pay.
“I’d got the dog in the car next to me, she’s always with me because she’s my hearing dog. She’s never more than a metre or two away from me. I virtually totally depend on her.
“Within 25 seconds the vehicle had gone.”
Mr Ward said the thieves also fled with £10,000 of building conservation equipment which was in his vehicle, including a £4,000 Canon camera and his Nokia mobile phone.
Police said two men in a white van, possibly a Renault, were on the forecourt at the same time as Mr Ward. One was putting fuel into the van. When Mr Ward went into the shop, the second man got out the van and took over from him.
Chris Ammonds, Shropshire police spokesman, said: “The first man walked round the victim’s Land Rover Discovery and got into it. He then calmly made off in the Land Rover closely followed by the other man in the white van who obviously hadn’t paid for the fuel.”
They are understood to have driven towards Kidderminster. Anybody who may have seen the dog or the vehicle should call police on 0300 333 3000.
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