A haulage firm from Corsham has been left to pick up the pieces after thieves damaged a number of lorries and stole £750 worth of diesel.

Martin’s Transport at the Linleys had been using its new yard for only a week when thieves broke in between 1am and 2am on February 25.

Managing director David Martin said: “The burglars came into my new yard in Linleys and took eight batteries from the big lorries and managed to take 750 litres of diesel despite the anti-syphoning equipment we had fitted to each tank.

“They destroyed that and then stole the diesel and the batteries, which has not only cost me money to replace the fuel but I also have to replace the damaged equipment on the lorries, costing me thousands of pounds.

We have security people who do their rounds but they weren’t there when the incident happened.”

He added: “We have only just started to use this yard because we had run out of space in the one next door and we had not yet fitted any fencing or security gates.

“That is what we are doing now. Short of getting a couple of guard dogs I don’t know what more I can do.”

Police have appealed for witnesses.